Betty Smith Sutton's Obituary
Betty Smith Sutton, age 101, passed on February 14, 2024 at Good Shephard Hospice following 24 years in residence at The Estates at Carpenters. The past quarter century Dr. Betty Sutton spent much of her time engaged in religious commitments at St. David’s and St. Stephen’s Episcopal churches and in an assortment of volunteer activities.
First and foremost, she loved her weekly work at Good Shephard Hospice interacting with families. She had supported her parents, her husband, and her children in their times of illness and dying. Her compassion to others was evident. The staff loved her, and she loved them! Dr. Sutton also valued serving as a “runner” taking meals to elderly for Viste. She got to talk with people who otherwise were usually isolated and alone. Earlier, she volunteered at Cleveland Court Elementary School to help younger children learning to read. Dr. Betty Sutton did all this while negotiating her world during this time, legally blind and deaf.
She worked as a professor at The Ohio State University directing their English as a Second Language program helping thousands of international students strengthen their skills in English with the assistance of 20 – 25 fellow teachers. Upon retirement, she and her husband, Dr. Robert Sutton continued their love for teaching at Providence College in Taichung, Taiwan. She settled in Lakeland after her older daughter developed a severe case of multiple sclerosis.
Dr. Betty Sutton’s life has been an inspiration to many, as she lived independently past 100, “reading” via Library of Congress and Great Courses tapes -- a book every day or two, walking most days outside for upwards of an hour, and always taking time to learn about new, scholarly areas of interest. The past 14 months the staff in the skilled nursing area of Carpenters has supported her, and could see even as she aged, her kindness, her determination, and her spirit.
Dr. Betty Sutton is predeceased in death by her husband, Dr. Robert Sutton, her two daughters, Ruth Hodapp and Beth Adams, and her step-daughter, Leonora Poe. She is survived by her step-daughter, Dr. Virginia Sutton, her niece, Stephanie Elkin, her step-grandson and great grandson, Mike and Michael Hodapp, and her step-grandson, Joshua Poe Wilson. She was loved, and she will be missed!
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