St. Louis Park High School Class of 1960 graduate Susan Linnee is a distinguished journalist who has worked in some of the most remote parts of the world.
Susan showed an interest in both journalism and foreign affairs while at Park High. In all three years she worked on the staff of the Echo: in her junior year she was co-editor of Page 2, and in her senior year she was the assistant managing editor. Also in her senior year she was chosen for a student exchange program with the American Field Service and spent part of the year in France.
Susan’s professional journalism career started in Buenos Aires, where she became a radio stringer after the chief correspondent had to have open heart surgery. One of the stories was about the return of the embalmed body of Eva Peron (she died in 1953) to Argentina in 1974 when her husband Juan Peron was briefly president. NBC News had misunderstood and asked whether Susan could get an interview with Eva Peron! Susan began working for the Associated Press in Buenos Aires. Back in those days she was married to a diplomat who worked for the United Nations, which meant that she also lived for several years (back in the 1960s) in Berlin, Geneva and Kigali, Rwanda.
Her career has brought her to many locales, including:
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Jackson, Mississippi with the AP
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Houston, Texas with the AP
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The World Desk at the AP in New York
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The International Herald Tribune in Paris
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West Africa Correspondent for the AP based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
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Bureau Chief for the AP in Madrid, Spain
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Bureau Chief for the AP in Nairobi
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International Crisis Group as program director for Central Africa and the Horn of Africa, 2004-2005
She is now living in Nairobi, Kenya, providing editorial consulting for various newspapers in the Nation Media Group.
Susan has been chosen to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award for 2013. She will accept the award at graduation ceremonies in June.
Interesting Note: Susan’s uncle, Enoch Arthur “Art” Linnee was elected as St. Louis Park Justice of the Peace starting in 1937 until 1959 when JP Court transitioned to Municipal Court. Also, her aunt Edna Linnee Jorvig was married to Village Councilman Torval Jorvig.
Susan Linnee in Hong Kong, 2012. Photo courtesy Paul Linnee