As a little girl, Sue Padgett went to the Y in Elkin, where she grew up. “The Y was where the whole community came together,” she recalls.
Sue participated in all the programs available to her at the Y. “I swam, was in Leaders Club, took gymnastics and even synchronized swimming,” she says. She later worked for the Y as a swim instructor and lifeguard.
“My original love for the Y came from the stories I’d hear my daddy tell about the Spruce Street Y in Winston,” Sue says. After college, Sue returned to Wilkes County and the Y. She began dating Harry Padgett who was heavily involved at the Y. “Harry was in Y Men’s Club and was big into sports,” she explains. “He coached the 7-year-old ‘Mini Mite’ basketball team for 13 years and Babe Ruth Baseball League for 10 years, so I quickly became reconnected to the Y.”
After they married and had their sons Nat and Jonathan, Sue and Harry would take them to the Y. “Our oldest son was born with a disability. The one activity we could do together as a family was swim so the Y was an integral part of our family life,” she says. “It was the one thing we could do all together.”
In 2007 Sue joined the Wilkes Y as an employee. “I knew about Partner With Youth, but the Heritage Club was new to me,” she explains. “When I learned that it was an endowment fund for the Y association, I decided to make the Y a beneficiary.”
Sue and her family came to the decision because of what the Y did for their family and could do for others. “My sons are conscientious and make exercise and eating right a priority,” Sue says. “I don’t know if we could have taught them that without a Y in our community. The Y has the greatest potential for long-term change in peoples’ lives in any community. I’ve witnessed the change it makes firsthand. I want the Y to benefit lives for many years to come.”