The Belle of Amherst - About Viola Sutton

Viola Harding Sutton, born in 1908, has lived most her life in or near Colebrook, New Hampshire. She is a retired first grade teacher who started her career in a one-room schoolhouse at age 16. For many years she ran Sutton Place, a guest house on Main Street in Colebrook. She is known locally as an accomplished dressmaker, quilter, and crocheter. Following retirement from teaching in 1970 she began painting. Her still lifes and landscapes grace the homes of family, friends, and patrons. Throughout her life she wrote many poems--some for special occasions, some to express her feelings at the time. A number of these poems were collected in a book published by her daughter Lucille in San Francisco in 1998.

On July 22, at 7 pm at the Congregational Church in Colebrook, New Hampshire, a special performance of The Belle of Amherst will be dedicated to this remarkable woman's legacy. Organized by actor Renee Bucciarelli in partnership with the Great North Woods Center for the Arts, and with the generous help of the Congregational Church, Viola Sutton's paintings will be displayed and some of her poems read following the performance of The Belle of Amherst. This event is free to the public, with a suggested donation to benefit the GNWCA.

ONE LEAF by Viola Sutton

If I can be one leaf upon this tree of life
Significant, sharing with the masses--
    the wind, sun, strife--
That comes with battling the breeze
Clinging to keep my place--
    never with ease--
A spot of color added to make one beauteous sight
Gracefully holding my own--
    what is right--
I'll fill a tiny space, small, but important--yes--
No one will notice, but I will bless
    the branch that grew for me--
That made it possible for me to see
The world in all its wonder--
Lightning, clouds breaking asunder
    into rain--
And the sun, the night, the morning, noon,--
    and a day is done--
        Until the elements become greater than me
        And I will fall to rise again with Thee.

-- unpublished, 1970