Sue Wilson first saw and heard the hammered dulcimer when she was 17 years old while cruising the Illinois River on the Julia Belle Swain, a paddlewheel boat, out of Peoria, Illinois. She knew immediately that she was meant to play the instrument.
Nearly 20 years later, her husband and kids said, "Go buy a dulcimer for your birthday!" That was 1995, and she’s been playing ever since.
For 12 years, Sue taught beginning to advanced players out of her home in Pittsboro, NC and at special workshops in central NC. Effective June 2018, she followed her husband into retirement. She misses her students and the good lessons learned from teaching, but now she has more time to practice her own music! She and her music buddy, Betsy (concertina player), are still having fun playing together. You never know where you might run into them!
Sue grew up near Peoria, IL. She went to college at Northwestern University north of Chicago, then received her Masters of Education in speech/language pathology from UNC-Greensboro. She met her husband, Rouse Wilson, on a summer job while they were both working for the National Park Service in Cherokee, NC.
They married in 1982 and have 3 grown children, Noah, Abigail, and Andrew. Sue's husband received his DDS from UNC and practiced dentistry in Pittsboro for 33 years, retiring in 2018. In addition to music, Sue enjoys gardening, cooking, quilting, traveling, and spoiling the grandchildren.
