Sue Hinkel was born and raised in Oklahoma. She met her husband John there and they moved to Missouri, to the St. Louis area. They live on the Meramec River and wake up to the sounds of the river and the rustle of the trees surrounding their home. They like to call it their paradise.
Sue and John have two daughters, Heidi and Heather and one grandchild, Troy.
Sue is the treasurer of Missouri Storytelling, Inc. (MO-TELL) now, but she has served on the board in one capacity or another since its inception. She was the second president of the organization.
As treasurer, she collects the dues, pays the bills and files the taxes. She is the members first contact in most cases.
Mother, wife, teacher, artist, storyteller, adjunct professor-Sue wears many hats. She stays on top of the storytelling world by being a member of local and national storytelling organizations such as NSN, River and Prairie Storyweavers, Gateway Storytellers, Riverwind Storytelling and, of course, MO-TELL. She is also on the planning board for the St. Louis Storytelling Festival. She has been telling her tales at this event since the second of its now forty years. She was a featured teller two of those years.
Awards:
1. Volunteer of the Year for the St. Louis Storytelling Festival 2. Volunteer of the year for the University of Missouri St. Louis 3. National Storytelling Network Oracle Award, South Central
Region, for Service and Leadership 4. Missouri Art Teacher of the Year Award
Gary and Linda Kuntz told scary and not so scary stories for two hours on October 13, 2018 at the Knob Noster State Park for the 5 th Annual Hallowfest. The event included games, a haunted house, crafts, food a pumpkin contest and of course storytelling.
People from the age of 2-80 were in attendance with numbers upward of 650 for the programs and 150 for the storytelling. Linda and Gary started early with not-so-scary stories for the younger listeners. They finished up with the really scary tales for the older listeners. The audience was very diverse with representation from several different cultures. Most of the attendees came from the nearby Air Force base.
Both tellers enjoyed telling stories for HallowFest.
October brought the first freeze here in KC.I brought my plants in and turned on the heat. At first the cold penetrates my bones and then my mind. It takes me a while to get used to it. It is a good thing we had a few storytelling events to warm our minds and hearts. In November there was the KC Storytelling Celebration and the National Storytelling Network, Tellabration!!! Thanksgiving brought lots of family stories too. Some cultures wait until the first snow to begin telling their stories.
As for me and my clan we tell our tales all year round. However for those who wait for the first snow, it came on November 11 this year. I am looking forward to the holidays in December and more stories with friends and family. January brings the Chicken Festival for River and Prairie Storyweavers. During that festival, MO-TELL will hold its annual meeting. We want to hear from our members so I hope you show up. You can tell some stories with RAPS and come to the meeting and let us know what you want out of MO-TELL. See you then and Happy Holidays.