Family Tree of Dennis and Marie Eltz Sutton Alma M. Swan

---

Alma M. Swan

---

      Sex: F

---

Individual Information

---

          Birth: Abt 1914 - Readington, Readington Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
        Baptism: 
          Death: 20 Jan 1961 - Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey 8314,11547
         Burial: Aft 20 Jan 1961 - Readington, Hunterdon County, New Jersey 11547
 Cause of Death: 
Events
•  She appeared on the census in Apr 1940 in Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

---

Parents

---

         Father: John Swan
         Mother: Anna Nestrom

---

Spouses and Children

---

1. *George Sutton 1211,5315,6616 
       Marriage: 8 Oct 1933 - White House Station, Readington Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey 6616,9168
       Children:
                1. Mary Ellen Sutton 1211
                2. Grace Evelyn Sutton 5315
                3. Edwin Sutton 8314
                4. Carl Sutton 8314

---

Notes

---

Death Notes:

Obituary
Hunterdon Woman Dies of Exposure After Long Struggle Through Drifts
A Tewksbury Township woman fought her way five miles toward home through driving snow early yesterday morning, but fell half a mile short of her goal. She died of exposure.
The woman, Mrs. Alma Sutton, 46, was pronounced dead on arrival at Hunterdon Medical Center shortly before noon yesterday. She had crawled beneath a stalled car in a vain effort to find shelter. She was still alive when discovered shortly before 10 a.m. yesterday.
Mrs. Sutton, a production employe at the Washington plant of the Bradley-Sun Division of the American Can Co., had worked until quitting time at 11:30 p.m. Thursday. Then she began driving to her home on Philhower Road in a remote section between Califon and Mountainville.
It was late yesterday afternoon before state police found her stalled car near High Bridge.
Nine-year-old Paul DeMott, son of Mr. and Mrs. William DeMott, went outdoors yesterday shortly before 10 a.m. to feed birds. He quickly went back into the house, several hundred feet off Philhower Road and told his parents he hear somebody "crying or moaning."
Paul's great-grandmother, Mrs. Louise Philhower, stepped outside. She too heard the sobbing moans.
Then William DeMott put on heavy clothing and went outside. He walked to the end of the lane leading to Philhower Road. Nearby along the road he spotted an abandoned auto. Looking closer, he saw a woman's legs projecting from beneath it.
He hastily returned to the house and called state police at Clinton.
The Califon Rescue Squad was summonded. The ambulance picked up Dr. Vladimir F. Ctibor in Califon on its way. Joseph McGuire broke trail for the ambulance with the Califon Borough snowplow. A snowplow-equipped jeep driven by George Hildebrant also preceded the ambulance.
Dr. Ctibor and squadmen carefully loaded, Mrs. Sutton into the ambulance. The snowplows continued to clear the way toward Lebanon and Route 22.
But the battle was lost somewhere in the drifted roads of Hunterdon County. Mrs. Sutton died in the ambulance.
State Police were puzzled at the whereabouts of Mrs. Sutton's car until it was discovered. Until then no one had guessed how far she had struggled through the drifts.
A reconstruction of her fatal trip home shows that she remained at work until quitting time, although many fellow workers left as early as 9 p.m.
She went to the plant parking lot shortly before quitting time to supervise another employe who volunteered to put chains on her car. Returning to the plant she shivered and told another woman, "Oh, I'm so cold .. I just can't get warm."
Then at 11:30, she set forth. First she took another woman home to the middle of Washington. Then she drove to High Bridge accompanied by Miss Blanche Beatty, a third employe at the plant.
Letting Miss Beatty out of the car at her home in High Bridge, Mrs. Sutton proceeded down a narrow road, past Lake Solitude. At the end of this road she made a right turn toward Cokesbury. He car made it almost all the way up a steep hill. Then it slid sideways into a ditch and became hopelessly stuck.
Mrs. Sutton apparently sat in the car a long time before making her fatal decision to walk. Condensation from her breath had frozen on the interior of the windshield.
After making the decision she walked two miles to Mountainville. And another mile down Philhower Road toward her farm home.
It appears that Mrs. Sutton used the last of her failing strength trying to get inside the abandoned car she came upon in the dark. Failing, she huddled beneath it.
Co-workers at the factory, which manufactures collapsible metal toothpaste tubes, described Mrs. Sutton as "very shy but awfully nice." One woman said "work was everything to her."
All agreed that it was Mrs. Sutton's nature to pass shelter at dozens of houses rather than bother anyone in the middle of the night.
Mrs. Sutton was born in Readington, a daughter of the late John and Anna Nystrum Swan. She had lived in Tewkbury Township for about 10 years. Her husband, George, operated a farm there.
In addition to her husband she is survived by two sons, Edwin, of Oldwick, and Carl, of Somerville; two daughters, Mrs. Mary Bellion and Miss Grace Sutton, both at home; and two sisters, Mrs. Emma Apgar, Califon R.D. and Miss Anna Swan, of Newark.
Funeral services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. in the Coughlin Funeral Home, Califon.

Burial Notes:

buried in Readington Reformed Church Cemetery.