Magazine Jul/Aug 2016

Creating a Home Like The Club, which has been a central part of their family life reaching back four decades, SAS has also played an important role in their lives here. Asia, now 15, attends SAS, just like her parents did, and will be graduating with the Class of 2019. Both parents play an active role at the school. “Greg’s the football commissioner,” says Susan, “and I’ve been the cheerleading coach for years. Two years ago we had our 40 th anniversary for football, and I was the chairwoman for that.” Due to her long history with the school and her ongoing involvement, she was asked to chair the school’s 60 th Anniversary celebration, further weaving her into the island’s history. The celebratory event, which saw a remarkable 262 attendees from around the world, was a resounding success. “Of course it took some preparation. The first meeting I had was in 2013,” she explains. “It was just one of those events that will be memorable for a lifetime. I had helped with the 50 th and so they came and asked me. I can’t pass up those opportunities because we are part of this community. I am a part of SAS, and it goes very, very deep.” When brainstorming what the alumni would want to see and experience upon their return to Singapore, the answers were obvious: revisiting the homes they had lived in, eating Mr. Ho’s food, visiting The American Club, and reminiscing with their friends. “Martin [Club General Manager] just got it, of all the people I worked with, he got it. He opened the doors [to The Club] and they just flooded in. Sixty-eight day passes,” she says. “It was a dream.” (In fact, one alumnus, Ryan Emge, was also welcomed back to The Club for a special tennis lesson on the 30 th anniversary of his first-ever tennis lesson – also at The Club – in 1986!) Staying Put “We moved here in ’03 and we’ve been here ever since,” says Susan, and they have no plans to leave. Greg became a Singapore citizen about six years ago and his daughter, Asia, has dual citizenship. “We are in the candy vending machine business,” shares Susan with a smile. “I found this company out of Canada that had these little candy machines. It’s a great business. I started out just buying fifty machines and we had some issues here, because this was their first time in Southeast Asia. He [the owner] was 76 years old, but didn’t like to fly. He never left Canada. And he said, ‘I like what you are doing. Would you like to buy the company?’ So guess who bought the company? We’re the worldwide headquarters now. That happened about one year after we bought the fifty machines.” And they couldn’t be happier. As Susan puts it – who doesn’t like candy? It’s something that makes almost everyone smile. And as the business continued to grow, with Susan as the CEO, Greg came on board to head up Business Development. “It’s a marriage made in heaven,” she smiles. “I love my husband, and I can get along with him every single day. And I’m with him 24/7. We like it that way. It’s just worked out.” Now they have business across North America, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

SAS 60th Anniversary 2016 – SAS alumni including Greg Rutledge (third from left), Susan Studebaker-Rutledge (fourth from left) and Susan’s brother, Steven Studebaker (extreme right)

Susan 8 th

Grade

“This is a place we call home,” explains Susan. “I don’t see myself going back [to the US]. I pinch myself every day.”

Gregory 12 th Grade

And so, her love story continues…

28 THE AMERICAN CLUB JUL / AUG 2016