Susan Hileman ’73 was one of 14 people wounded in the Jan. 8 Tucson shooting of Gabrielle Giffords M.A. ’96 (D-AZ). According to the Arizona Republic, Hileman sustained three bullet wounds but none hit vital organs, and she was released from University Medical Center Tuesday.Hileman went to the Safeway, where the shooting occurred on Jan. 8, to accompany her neighbor Christina Taylor Green, 9, to meet Giffords. Green was one of six people killed during the shooting.A graduate of the College of Human Ecology, Hileman serves on a number of Cornell alumni councils. She is the director of the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network for the Cornell Club of Southern Arizona.According to Warren Icke ’62, president of the Cornell Club of Southern Arizona, Hileman was nominated to the board of the club after she organized informal interview committees that aimed to increase high school students’ interest in the University.
Tracy Neish ’01, treasurer for the Cornell Club of Southern Arizona, worked closely with Hileman on club events and served in Giffords’ Tucson District Office as an office manager during the summer of 2007.“While working at the congresswoman’s office, I attended numerous similar events and it never even crossed my mind that something so terrible could happen,” Neish said in an e-mail. “Other members of the club were also shocked and saddened by the tragedy. Warren Icke, our club president, was able to take a Cornell banner that the club has to the hospital along with well wishes from the club to be hung in Suzi’s room.”Icke noted that the club is planning to make donations to charities chosen by Hileman and Giffords, in memory of the shooting.“She’s an enthusiastic member of the board and a good director,” Icke said of Hileman.Hileman also serves as a member of the College of Human Ecology Alumni Association Board and was on the Class of 1973’s 30th Reunion Campaign Major Gifts Committee. She is married to William Hileman ’72.“I was deeply shocked and saddened to hear that Suzi was among the victims of Saturday’s shooting in Tucson,” said Alan Mathios, the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology. “Having recently visited with Suzi — a proud Cornellian and dedicated volunteer to the college and University — her tremendous spirit and great resolve will no doubt aid in her recovery from this horrific tragedy.”
Original Author: Brendan Doyle