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Susan Audé

American journalist

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ7647523
Source-derived summary

Susan Audé (born October 31, 1952) is a retired American television news anchor in Columbia, South Carolina at WIS-TV. A child of military service parents she entered adulthood from Virginia to Erskine College in South Carolina in 1972 when she was seriously injured in a car accident in 1974. She spent six months in the hospital. Living the rest of her life in a wheelchair, she overcame depression and anger at the time and earned degrees and a career in television news broadcast, starting in 1978 until retirement in 2006, as well as working in theatre and public speaking. Raised a Methodist, she converted to the Baháʼí Faith in 1995 and she says it broadened her views of society and religion.

Personal life

Audé was born on Halloween 1952 into a military family living in many locations - she graduated from high school in Germany and was in Fort Lee, Virginia about the time she went to college.

Audé attended Erskine College from about 1972 because an aunt and uncle attended, served as a dorm representative to the student government council, and was a runner-up in the contest for Homecoming Queen. In 1974, Audé was in a car hit by a truck - two were killed and two others injured - during her junior year, and sustained severe internal injuries. She recovered but was left paralyzed from the waist down. She has spent her life since then in a wheelchair. Following a year of hospitalization and rehabilitation, during which she had depression and anger, she went on to finish her college education, competed for national Miss Wheelchair America after winning at Virginia's Miss Wheelchair, Paralympic Games with distinction in javelin and shot put contests, was elected Erskine Homecoming Queen in 1975–76, and earned an A. B. in English and Spanish in 1976.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Susan Audé” as american journalist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Susan, Audé and American.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1952, 1972, 1974, 1978—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1952-10-31. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Susan, Audé and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Susan Audé”, the useful work is to connect “american journalist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7647523. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1972, 1974 and 1978.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Susan Audé”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Susan Audé primary sources, Susan Audé archive and Susan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Susan Audé” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.