Margueritta R. “Marge” Sutton

Margueritta R. “Marge” Sutton, age 91, of Elkton, MD, passed away peacefully in her home on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

Marge graduated from Philadelphia Highschool for the girls in 1949. She went on to University of Pennsylvania graduating in 1953 from the liberal arts for Women program with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After college Marge enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. and was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant.  She completed her training in Quantico, VA and then was stationed in San Diego, CA before moving on to Kaneohe, HI.  Her role was to manage classified files and she was an Executive Officer of the Women’s Marine Corp.

Marge enjoyed skiing and traveling and was a wonderful letter writer, sharing her experiences with her family during her time in the service and thereafter.

The passion she had for medicine began early on wanting to go to medical school after college and while in the Marine Corp. she dreamed of being the 1st woman surgeon of the Navy.  Marge did end up fulfilling her Master’s Degree in Chemistry from St. Joseph’s University which led her to Smith Kline, in Philadelphia, PA where she was a technical pharmaceutical writer.

Marge later met her husband of 55 years on a sailboat in the Caribbean where they fell in love and eloped and camped cross country for their honeymoon in 1966. They bought their first home in Frostburg, MD and started their family, Nicolette Shuhart (69) and Nicole McClelland (71).

In 1976 they started a new chapter moving to their current home in Elkton MD. Marge was very active with her church community of Newark United Methodist.  She was very involved with choir, piano, music factory, and sponsoring families via the church’s outreach refugee program. Marge was also a substitute teacher for many years, affectionately known as “Marge the Sarge”. She enjoyed playing cards with the neighborhood ladies, teaching ESL, working in the food pantry, playing the piano, and spending time in her gardens enjoying the flowers and the birds.  She had a great love of nature.  Marge and Jim enjoyed the theater together.

Marge was active with her grandchildren, Margueritta (Quie) Shuhart, Madeline Shuhart, and Amanda Finley. She would take them on day trips, to their music lessons and Music Factory in the summer at NUMC. She loved Kyle Dixon as one of her own grandchildren. Even though she was not able to enjoy the same experiences with her granddaughter Alexis “Lexie” McClelland she enjoyed receiving her cards and pictures and baked goods.

Anyone who knew Marge knew she was great fun with quick wit and sarcasm which she held on to the end. You had to be on your toes when around Marge.

Marge is preceded in death by her parents, Albert Russell, Sr. and Ethel Russell and sisters, Charlotte Russell Hoehn, and Marion Russell Noble. She is survived by her younger brother, Albert Russell, Jr. and his wife Marian Russell; husband, James Sutton; and two daughters, Nicolette Shuhart, and Nicole McClelland (Kurt).

A visitation for family and friends will be held from 10 am until 11 am on Monday, May 16, 2022, at Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Home, 121 West Park Place, Newark, DE, where a memorial service will begin at 11 am. Interment will follow in Head of Christiana, 1100 West Church Road, Newark, DE.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Marge’s memory to The Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601 or by clicking here.