BP’s top citizen calls volunteering ‘a privilege’

The tables at the Blooming Prairie Servicemen’s Club were filled with some unfamiliar faces, and Pam Ingvalson knew why.

“We’ve got a lot of people here,” she said. “There’s Suzi’s camping group, Suzi’s book club group… She’s got some great friends out here because you know what? She’s a great friend.”

Ingvalson was talking about Suzi Burt, who received the 2023 Blooming Prairie Area Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year award last week.

Burt has been volunteering in the community since moving to Blooming Prairie in 1981. Her first order of business – literally – was to open a hair salon, called Styles Unlimited on Main Street.

“We’ve all been styled by Suzi at one point,” Ingvalson said. “That’s why we look so good.”

Burt needed more stylists, though, prompting her husband Jeff to go to beauty school in order to help out.

In 1986, Suzi started a career in health, joining Mayo Clinic in the research department.

Jeff Burt had already started his own path in medicine, enrolling in a four-year nursing program. He put his studies on pause – until Suzi and their daughter, Crystal Studer, began a two-year nursing program.

“He said, ‘well, if you guys are going, I want to go back and finish, too,’” Suzi Burt said. “So, the three of us graduated at the same time. It was really something – but Jeff started it.”

Burt retired in 2021 after 35 years at Mayo Clinic, the last 15 as a registered nurse. As part of a lung health team, she spoke to students about the dangers of smoking.

The Burts’ daughter, Jenny Kelner, also became a nurse.

Through the years, between her jobs, her education, and raising a family, Suzi Burt has been a volunteer in many ways, said Karen Peterson, executive director of the Chamber.

She served as secretary for the Chamber of Commerce, donates and packs food for the BP Backpack Program, helped initiate the 5K run held every Fourth of July, was instrumental in cable internet coming to Blooming Prairie, was a Scout leader, and is active in a variety of roles at First Lutheran Church.

This year, Burt is involved in the organization of the annual Fourth of July parade, acting as co-chair with Karen Fouarge, who spent decades at the helm of the parade committee. Burt has four parades on her resume, most recently in 2022 and 2023.

She is also a seamstress, as well as a member of the Blooming Prairie Education Foundation.

“All of the community events and all the things Suzi did, she still had time to raise four wonderful children,” Ingvalson said.

In addition to Studer and Kelner, the couple has two other children, Adam Burt and Whitney Burt, as well as 10 grandchildren.

“She’s probably the only grandmother I know that can still get on a pogo stick,” Ingvalson told the crowd.

Burt thanked her husband and children for “always encouraging and supporting me,” adding that she now works alongside her children in volunteer opportunities.

“I was raised in a Christian household with parents who encouraged us and taught us to share the gifts God gave us,” she said. “These are also values of mine that I’ve tried to pass on to my own kids.”

Burt called her volunteering “a fun and rewarding experience, and it’s the reason I continue to volunteer at every opportunity. It’s been a privilege to work on all these committees over the past 43 years,” she said.

“We have such a great community here in Blooming Prairie, and I believe it’s because we have so many great people. I’m proud to be a small part of that.”