Hailey Heseltine
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Meet Susanna Vargas, a well-known resident of our community and a hardworking and adventurous neighbor to all. Vargas has lived in Jefferson County for about 23 years in total; she was originally born in Pennsylvania, but she moved here around the time she was middle-school aged. She was able to attend middle and high school in Jefferson County; she also briefly attended North Florida College while dual-enrolled in high school.
Over the years, Vargas has lived in many different places—different towns, states, and even countries. Some of the most remarkable places she has lived are Red Lake, Ontario, San Diego, and San José de Cusmapa in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is an especially important place to Vargas, because it was during her four years spent there that she met her husband, Gerardo Vargas. He had spent a winter in Monticello and greatly enjoyed the climate, so they decided to move to Jefferson County.
Vargas has been a stay-at-home mom for 30 years. She has nine children, Excevio, Tovya, Valentin, Marta, Lea, Elias, Liria, Marcos, and Evelyn, who were homeschooled. She strives to teach her children useful and varied skills that will aid them in real life and help them develop creative hobbies, and it is certainly no easy feat!
Some of Vargas's hobbies include gardening, soap-making, crocheting, sewing, cooking, baking, acting, and writing. She recently completed a short mystery novel titled 'Your Sins Will Find You Out,' which is set in Monticello. She is currently seeking to have it edited and hopes to self-publish it soon. In the future, she would also be interested in writing and publishing some of the other story ideas she has. Vargas has also starred in two productions at the Monticello Opera House, Oklahoma! and The Music Man. She says she enjoyed her experiences onstage and would be interested in acting in another show in the future.
Vargas also enjoys going to CowHaus, going to church at the Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Tallahassee, coming to karaoke during second Saturdays, visiting thrift stores, and spending time with her best friend from middle school onward, who also lives in Monticello. Another activity she is often engaged in is volunteering translation around town; Vargas is fluent in Spanish and offers to translate between Spanish and English when needed.
In the future, Vargas would love to continue traveling; she especially has the hope of seeing Switzerland. Though she enjoys living in Monticello, she has the dream of someday moving to Africa and seeing the country's unique land and climate, and hopes it will be realized. For now, however, she is content enjoying our small, eccentric town and all it has to offer within.
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