Susan Sutton, 77, of West Chester, a longtime art teacher at Fantastic Valley High School, died Thursday, July 29, at ManorCare Wellbeing Companies-King of Prussia. She suffered a traumatic brain injury immediately after a slide at home in May perhaps.
Recognised for inspiring her students to respect and sometimes pursue professions in artwork, Mrs. Sutton expended 26 years at Terrific Valley, and all of them in the identical classroom with Bart, her husband of 53 years. She specialised in ceramics, weaving, jewelry, and sculpture, and he taught portray, sculpture, ceramics, and graphics.
The couple worked collectively in a substantial art room at the large college, and pupils moved among the the specialties.
“The young ones often questioned how we worked collectively,” mentioned Bart Sutton, who retired in 2001. “They were fascinated, usually looking at us. It was the finest problem in the globe, and it labored for the reason that we experienced a frequent desire.
“We did not battle, and when we went residence just about every evening we just carried on with what we were executing. We knew what had transpired that day, so we didn’t have to explain anything.”
By natural means humble and shy, Mrs. Sutton grew to become gregarious and outgoing in the classroom, her husband explained. She reveled in exhibiting her learners the finer details of generating, specifically jewelry, and her smile “could mild up the room,” he mentioned.
Many previous students expressed their gratitude for her friendship and notice in an on the web tribute.
“She was a very particular girl who served establish me into the female I am today,” 1 woman wrote. “I was generally influenced by her go-get-it spirit, and by the really like shared among her and Bart.”
Yet another wrote that Mrs. Sutton “will normally be remembered so much for producing me who I am right now in the jewellery environment.”
Author Alice Sebold was a university student in the Suttons’ classroom at Good Valley in the 1970s, and she recounted in her 2017 very best-advertising memoir, Fortunate, how Mrs. Sutton and her spouse inspired and supported her innovative impulses, which served retain her centered on college.
“I appreciate the Suttons,” Sebold wrote.
Born April 15, 1944, in Marion, Ind., Mrs. Sutton gained a bachelor’s degree in schooling from Ball Condition University in 1966 and a master’s diploma in high-quality arts from Ohio State College in 1968.
She and her spouse satisfied at Ohio Condition, married in 1968, and she taught large college artwork courses in Columbus, Ohio, and then Mount Kisco, N.Y., from 1968-73. The couple moved to West Chester in 1973 after having substitute-instructor positions at Excellent Valley that turned into complete-time positions.
“I questioned her to handle me as Mr. Sutton in class, never ever Bart or Honey,” Bart Sutton explained. “She may well have slipped and termed me Bart as soon as but hardly ever Honey.”
Mrs. Sutton labored on her very own artwork exterior the classroom, and the few produced a residence studio. An mental as effectively as an artist, she examined artwork nouveau and devoured crossword puzzles.
She traveled to Europe and all over the United States with her spouse, and wrote in depth personalized newsletters for a lot more than 150 good friends and family members. She retired in 1999.
“She was generally there for me,” her husband said. “She generally encouraged me with her talent and originality.”
In addition to her partner, Mrs. Sutton is survived by a brother and other kinfolk. Yet another brother died before.
Solutions and interment were being non-public.
Donations in her name may be created to the Brandywine Valley SPCA, 1212 Phoenixville Pike, West Chester, Pa. 19380, and the American Parkinson Sickness Affiliation, P.O. Box 61420, Staten Island, N.Y. 10306.