Fourth Finalist Chosen

By Pamela S. Thompson

There was a buzz in the bullpen one day last week when Susan Haase, a new business associate at Lincoln Benefit Life, was contacted by the Journal Star. Haase, who has been at the insurance company for eight years in June, said when the call came to inform her that she had been chosen to be Ultimate Home Delivery's fourth finalist, her co-workers knew something was up.

"I only told one co-worker," Susan Haase said. "But I was in shock."

Haase lives in the southwest part of Lincoln with her stay at home mother and father, a Realtor. Every year she gives her parents a gift subscription to the Journal Star. She said she's excited to be able to tell her two siblings and many friends about being involved in the Ultimate Home Delivery project.

In order to tell her brother, the youngest in her immediate family, she'll have to use a web-based computer program. In September, her brother moved his entire family, a wife, three daughters and one son, with him to Africa where he is currently teaching Sudanese fourth graders. Fortunately, her older sister lives in Lincoln and is married with a son and a daughter.

After growing up in Crete, the Haases moved to Lincoln when Susan was a junior in high school. In Crete, she remembers delivering the Lincoln Journal for about five years, on her bike and on foot.

After high school, Susan studied business administration at Doane-Lincoln at night. After a brief stint working for Youth with a Mission in Wisconsin, Susan moved back to Nebraska. She said she loves her job helping underwriters gather information to write insurance policies at Lincoln Benefit Life.

Besides work and family, Susan enjoys playing with her miniature dachshund Chester and volunteering at her church Gates of Praise at 70th and Vine Streets, where she oversees an all-girls craft hour on Wednesdays and attends Bible study on Thursdays.

Asked if she felt lucky to be chosen as a finalist, she replied, "Lucky, sure, but maybe not $300,000 worth!"