MU| F e a t u r e s
‘It remains in my
being’
W
hen Sue Wells ’70 Livers
got the call from Blair
Helman, she thought her
friend Myron Chenault ’71
was playing a joke on her.
She was not amused.
When Livers realized that Manchester’s
president really was inviting her to lunch
with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the day
turned “surreal.” The charismatic leader of
the civil rights movement had defied Jim
Crow and inspired Americans who believed
in racial equality to stand up for it. For the
sophomore who had attended a segregated
grade school, meeting Dr. King was the
chance of a lifetime.
The next day, Feb. 1, 1968, Livers packed
into the auditorium with other Manchester
students to hear King speak on “The Future
of Integration.” At lunch she joined a select
group of students that included Chenault,
Jo Young ’69 Switzer, Steve Stone ’69, and
Keith Matthews ’71. Livers was so nervous,
she says, “I don’t remember if I ate or not.”
She does remember the man, though, and
how genuine he was. “He was a people’s
person and it showed. He was a good person
and that showed. He blessed the food and he
was so sincere.”
The late 1960s were turbulent years in
America, and Manchester was not immune.
Livers was one of only a few African-
Americans at Manchester then, the only one
in her class. She did not always feel welcome
in her own residence hall let alone the North
Manchester community where, she says,
African students were treated better than
African-American students. She navigated
those struggles by keeping her eyes on the
prize – for her, an education. Livers made the most of that opportunity,
earning a master’s degree at the University of
Louisville and working at King’s Daughter’s
Hospital in her hometown of Madison, Ind.,
first as director of nutrition services, then
as director of the hospital’s foundation. She
studied philanthropy at Indiana University
and raised money to help build a new cancer
center before retiring in 2015.
“I was just happy to go to college,” she
recalls. “If you didn’t