Ida Marie Sutter

My family just got back from a lovely trip to Nauvoo. The weather was cooperative. My mother was able to join us. The children were peaceful. The roads were not under construction! In short, it was the family vacation we have pictured in our heads, but never seem able to achieve! We achieved it!

My daughter and son-in-law and their children were sealed in the temple. (See Mormon.org). This was, of course a beautiful ceremony. I was very touched by the number of friends and family members who made the sacrifice of a twelve hour round trip to join us!

Of course, any time I get to attend the temple is a time for Family History. My mom spotted the name Ida Marie Sutter in my Family File. After a few quiet minutes, she tearfully told me this little story of my great-great aunt Ida:

Ida Marie Sutter was the sister of my great-grandfather Henry Sutter. Ida was born 10 June 1871; she had a twin brother William Peter. Aunt Ida worked as a housekeeper for the priests. I followed her life through the parade of censuses and city directories. When she was 20, 28, 38, 48, 58, 68 she worked for the priests. She cooked the meals and scrubbed the floors and did the laundry and kept all of the church linens, the cassocks and surplices and altar cloths, spotless. She never married, never had children. She devoted her life to serving the priests so that they could serve God and their parishioners.

When she became old and was getting too feeble to work, Aunt Ida was let go. She had no where to go and no one to look after her, so my grandmother (Margaret Ann Sutter Mitchell) took her in. For the remainder of her days, when my father came home from work, Aunt Ida, thinking she was still at the rectory and that my bachelor dad was one of the priests, would say, "Good Evening, Father."

Ida Marie Sutter died in 1963 at the age of 91.

I'm grateful for my grandmother's example of kindness, hospitality, and compassion for an elderly aunt.