Editor’s Note:  The following interview was done by Marjorie Stoneman on behalf of Whitewater Unites Lives.

Born in Darmstadt, Germany, Susanne Maroske and her husband Dirk were originally going to stay in Whitewater for three years and have now made Whitewater their home for 24 years. 

“Coming to a small city was a big change,” she said. Darmstadt was a city of 160,000 people. But over the years, Susanne has grown to love Whitewater.

“I really like the neighborhood and the people who live here and the friends we have met. It has a lot to offer. I like living in a university town,” she said.

In 2000, Dirk was transferred from Germany to Whitewater to work for Schenck Process, and Susanne, who did not have a work visa, was busy raising their two children, ages 2 years and 9 months. She enjoyed meeting people through playgroups and was able to send the children for a few hours to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Children’s Center, where the kids were able to learn English without an accent. She said that has really helped them as they pursue their education and work. The family continued to speak German at home, so they are all bi-lingual.

She recommends that all newcomers get involved in activities in the community so that they can meet people. She was very involved as a soccer mom and tennis mom with her children at school.

She says she “shops locally and thinks globally.”  She supports local businesses as much as possible.

Becoming a United States citizen was a lengthy process, but Susanne is grateful and proud to be an American. “I am glad I have citizenship now. You have more rights and feel like a full member of society,” she said.

At the same time, she says she is privileged to have dual citizenship with Germany.

Tears in her eyes, she said, “The day we became United States citizens was very moving.”  She said that people do not have to give up who they are to become a citizen. She said the judge was very welcoming.

She said one of the scariest moments in her life was when she received her citizenship certificate in the mail and then had to put it back in the mail to get a passport. She was really worried because she had to send the original and was not able to make copies.

Susanne earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Theatre and her Bachelor of Science in Education in German from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and her Master of Fine Arts Degree in Fashion online from the Academy of Art in San Francisco in California. She worked for more than 17 years in the fashion industry and as a costumer, including work at the Fireside Theatre in Fort Atkinson and the Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee (see below for photographs of some of her work). 

She taught at Mount Mary University and Albion College in Michigan before teaching German, Creative Sewing, and Housing and Interior Design at Fort Atkinson High School. 

In addition to German and English, she speaks French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. She says she wishes that children could learn multiple languages at a younger age, when it would be easier for them to become more fluent.

Below are examples of some of her work: