Globe-Trotter
EVANS CITY — When it comes to travel, Jean Sutton of Evans City, has really gone the extra mile — and miles. In her 90 years, she's seen the world — so far, more than 60 countries, all 50 states and all but one continent.
“I always liked geography when I was in school,” Sutton said.
Some of her earliest excursions were to an out-of-state amusement park.
“I spent my first six years of grade school in Conway on the Ohio River. On our school picnics we got on a boat and went to Rock Springs Park in Chester, West Virginia,” she said.
Her first international voyage was probably a cruise in Russia where unsmiling workers waited at the docks.
“Jack Bogut with KDKA was on the trip,” Sutton said.
In 1945, Sutton took a job with Armco and stayed 41 years, retiring nearly 30 years ago. To travel, Sutton took vacation time, was frugal, saved money and economized with tour groups.
She often traveled with her sister, the late Dorothy Marburger, on tours with 10 to 50 people.
Some things stand out, among all her travels.
“My tripto Hong Kong was interesting,” she said. “When we got near to Hong Kong, there was a typhoon.” The jet she was in circled until the pilots could try to land. Flight attendants were crying. They landed and spent that '70s afternoon in the airport.
“The plane before us went into the water,” Sutton said. “We didn't know it.”
In Beijing in the 1980s, a fellow travelerbecame ill. The hospital doctor, who spoke no English, thought her heart was the problem. It was an ear infection.
Once a flash flood prevented an airplane landing in New York. Sutton said, “We went up to Bangor, Maine, to fuel, and then we came back to Philadelphia and slept on the floor.”
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the '80s, her only time in South America, was eye-opening.“We stayed right near Copacabana Beach. I remember seeing people with no clothes on,” Sutton said. “I read enough about things to know what to expect.”Her globe-trotting got her into some tight spots.“(On) one of my cruises, I was stuck in the elevator on the ship. There were some other people there. Pretty soon the repairman came down from the top of the elevator and he rescued us,” Sutton said.“One time in Beijing, we were going to a restaurant and the bus got caught under an underpass and we had to walk the rest of the way,” she said.Sutton didn't always stay in hotels. In New Zealand, she slept in a private home. She lodged in a mission house when a former missionary led a group to Kenya.Lions, giraffes, rhinoceroses, zebras, hippopotamuses and wildebeests, Sutton saw them all on safari in Kenya.In 2014, Sutton went to France with Marburger's daughters Robin VanDyke and Berty McMillen. VanDyke's son Tucker played football there. Sutton was the oldest of their relatively young group.“She kept up fairly well with all those high school football players,” McMillen said.They saw more than Paris.“We went to Normandy. I remember the cemetery there,” Sutton said.That was not the first time she visited a placescarred by conflict. In other years, she saw bombed cathedrals in Germany, and she also was in Northern Ireland.“They were showing places where people in south Ireland (Republic of Ireland) were not able to go. Not too many tourists went up there,” she said.
With groups, Sutton said she felt safe everywhere. She never had money stolen and she didn't get in trouble. In China, there was a fine for throwing cigarettes on the ground.“Some in our group did these things that you weren't supposed to do,” she said. “The policemen were right there.”Sutton remembers the first time she saw armed guards in an airport.“I think we had come from the Holy Land,” Sutton said. “Up in the balcony there were fellows with their guns.”It's not just other countries that interest Sutton. For the states, she said, “I've been to them all.”That included world fairs in Seattle, New York and Montreal. She went by train to Seattle and saw the Lennon Sisters, a singing quartet who appeared on the “Lawrence Welk Show.”VanDyke was with Sutton on a bus trip to New York last year. Sutton's great-nephew and cellist, Timothy Sutton, performed at Carnegie Hall with the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras.“That was great. I loved that,” Sutton said.“She's never going to say 'no.'” McMillen said. “She's always up for an adventure.”McMillen said never-married Sutton is a quiet person, a good listener and a generous aunt. Family members have benefitted from her globe-trotting.“She just wanted to expose us to what was out there in the world. She was willing to share that with us,” McMillen said. “I've been very blessed that I am part of her family.”McMillen said at holidays the cousins saw slides of Sutton's trips. McMillen is sorting slides for Sutton this year and looks forward to more of her stories.Marburger and Sutton inspired McMillen and VanDyke. McMillen has been to nearly every state and at least 10 countries. VanDyke is on the go, in part because travel is part of her job. Three years ago, she met her goal of visiting every state and she has been in 10 countries.
VanDyke keeps in touch with her German pen pal from seventh grade and in 1976, at age 14, she was a Rotary exchange student to Germany for three weeks.VanDyke missed a very memorable trip to Alaska in 1967 when she broke an arm. Her mother, her brother and Sutton hit the road anyway.“We went 13,000 miles. That was a whole month, maybe two. My brother lived up there,” Sutton said.VanDyke's brother was 16, had a brand-new license and didn't take driver's education until after the trip.Sutton said, “When we traveled through Chicago, I said, 'Just keep in one lane.'”Sutton's reason for circling the globe is simple.“To see it,” she said. “How they live. How they dress. There are different foods.”Even after Scandinavia, Greece and nearly all of the rest of Europe; four Caribbean nations; and six of seven continents, she still thinks about traveling.“I haven't been to Antarctica,” Sutton said.“I'm checking in to Antarctica. I think there are five of us that want to go,” McMillen said.
