Doug Wood and Sue Dutton’s love of public media grew alongside their family traditions, community involvement and commitment to Nebraska.
Every Sunday at 6 p.m., siblings, children and spouses surround the table in Doug Wood and Sue Dutton’s home. Dinners together are a time-honored tradition for the tight-knit family. (Sue and all three of her sisters once lived on the same Lincoln street!)
“Everybody is welcome, but the running joke is that you have to be gone by the time Masterpiece comes on. You either watch it with me, or you leave,” Sue laughed.
When the couple isn’t enjoying public television, public radio is on the dial, at home and in their cars. “It’s 91.1 all the time. You learn something every time you turn it on,” Doug said, tracing his appreciation for classical music to growing up in Big Springs.
“Our little town of 500 had a civic music organization,” he said, explaining that a donor provided tickets for local kids. “It opened up a whole world.”
Sue grew up in Lincoln, listening to Car Talk every Saturday. “I know nothing about cars, but we laughed along,” she said. The couple met on a Colorado ski trip and married four years later. Sue was a social worker in Lincoln Public Schools, while Doug worked as an engineer at Goodyear. After moving for his job, they settled in Lincoln in 1987.
Around that time, they began supporting public media. “We feel like you can really trust the information,” Sue said.
“I think it’s important that people around Nebraska have the opportunity to see the kind of news and entertainment you provide,” Doug added. Their appreciation shows up in small ways—like a Christmas card featuring them alongside Downton Abbey characters.
Both come from families rooted in a Nebraska work ethic and belief in giving back. “We need to invest in the people in our community,” Sue said. She volunteers with the Food Bank of Lincoln and Doug volunteers with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UNL.
Their commitment deepened when federal funding was eliminated. “We just kept giving a little more over time,” Doug said. They recently began making larger gifts to meet their Required Minimum Distributions, directing funds to the network while minimizing their tax burden.
“If something matters to you, you support it,” Sue said.