Susan Shine Kilcrease came on board as Curator of the Ice House Museum in March of 2020,  responsible for all of the exhibit research and design, as well as grant writing, managing Facebook and the website.  She is an 8th generation Texan and Hardin County descendent.  Her earliest local ancestor was Benjamin Franklin Richardson who built a ferry on the Neches River in 1829, and was granted a Zavalla Land Grant in 1831.  Her natural interest in history is a direct result of the lessons taught to her by her father, Surveyor Darrell D. Shine, and grand parents and in her life-long pursuits of historical research and travel.  

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Susan received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas and graduate work at Lamar University and at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  She spent her career on the stage and in Music Education, as a High School Choral Director and as a professional opera singer for 20 years.  She brings her staging, lighting, story-telling and artistic experience in the performance world to her exhibit design.

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Joining the Ice House Museum in 2020, she recommended changing the Museum from an Art Museum to a History Museum, which had been demonstrated clearly in her research.  Additionally the long tradition of story-telling is alive in her stories which she shares on the popular Facebook page and at the museum in the exhibits and tours.

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Icehousemuseum@att.net

409 299 0781

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