Fannie Steele – Page 6 – Wise County Historical Society

Rita Kennedy Sutton

Rita Elizabeth (Kennedy) Sutton was born March 13, 1906 in the community of Imboden, near Appalachia, Virginia. Later, her name was changed to Rita Jo, for a favorite character in “Little Women.” The daughter of Benjamin F. and Rosa R. Kennedy, she spent most of her life in Dickenson county. She was an avid reader and brilliant scholar.

Rita Kennedy Sutton

By Mrs. Bonnie S. Ball

Rita Elizabeth (Kennedy) Sutton was born March 13, 1906 in the community of Imboden, near Appalachia, Virginia. Later, her name was changed to Rita Jo, for a favorite character in “Little Women.”

The daughter of Benjamin F. and Rosa R. Kennedy, she spent most of her life in Dickenson county. She was an avid reader and brilliant scholar. The family moved to Clintwood where she attended high school.

At age 17 she entered Martha Washington College, and at age 19 she returned to Dickenson County, where she taught English, French, and History in the junior high school near Fremont and McClure.

On September 2, 1928 she was married to John I. Sutton, a banker from Abingdon. She later attended William and Mary College, and moved to Abingdon. The following Spring they moved to Clintwood, where her husband opened the first Piggly Wiggly store.

Their daughter, Eliza Rose (Mrs. Kent Rigg), was born in 1929. At the age of 24, Rita Kennedy Sutton was suddenly stricken by polio, after which she went to an Abingdon hospital for six months. Eventually a vaccine was developed that cleared the infection. After two months she went to Warm Springs, Georgia for treatment periodically.

In August , 1932 the Kennedy family moved to Wise. Although Rita’s body grew weaker, her will grew stronger,” She later became Advertising Manager for the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain, and became interested in genealogy, having published “Early Osbornes & Alleys,” “Early Carters in Scott Cunty, Va.”, and “Kennedy’s Piggly Wiggly Stores, Inc.: A Backward Glance.”

Quotation from a biographical sketch by Catherine C. Riggs, In The Coalfield Progress.

Mrs. Sutton was a founding member of the Wise Study Club, a woman’s group that remains true to its early motto, “Tis the mind that makes the body rich.” Mrs. Sutton was an honorary life member of the Southwest Virginia Historical Society.

According to her granddaughter, Catherine C. Riggs, she became a published author at the age of 71. She taught herself to type at 67. In 57 years she was unable to walk, but never complained. She passed away on November 20, 1987.

What a marvelous woman!

From: Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia – Publication No. 22 – 1

APPALACHIAN QUARTERLY

Special Focus

Bad Talt Hall by Nancy C. Brown

Features

Letters from the Battlefield by Greg Lepore

Shoot-out at Martin Train Depot by Bob Hall

The Whitakers by David C. Whitaker

Descendants of William Vicars by Dawna J. Vicars

The Saga of Bad John Hall by Bob Hall

Benjamin Harrison 1750-1808 by Jeremy F. Elliott

Mystery of the Young Soldiers by Willis Sexton

Aging Gracefully – Emily Qualls by Dorothy Witt & Wanda Rose

Correction by Benjamin F. Luntz

Wise County Marriage Books by William C. Gobble

Melungeon

Pike County Kentucky Marriages by Patricia H. Baldwin

New Columnist by P.H. Baldwin

Mixing It Up by Karlton Douglas

Melungeons and Myth by George R. Gibson

Update–What is Melungeon by Dr. N. Brent Kennedy

On The Bookshelf by Fannie Lane Steele

Calendar: Events of the area

The Appalachian Quarterly

Special Focus:June Carter Cash – Compiled by members of WCHS

Tribute: Ruth Kilgore Hamilton by Rhonda Robertson

Regular Features: Aging-–Marie Olinger Davis – by Dorothy H. WittUncle Dan Richmond – by David Chaltas & Richard G. BrownW. VA Unclaimed Civil War Medals Tell us a Big Tale – By Kathleen TaylorDescendants of WM. Vicars – by Dawna VicarsJohn Counts of Glade Hollow- By E.J Sutherland Tazewell Co. Marriage Register 1800-1853 – by Rhonda RobertsonFirsts for Wise County Historical Society: Wedding Legend of the Baker Estate – by Fred H. LawsonCommemorative-Carter SignName and Family of Dotson by Emory L. HamiltonHylton Family Heritage by James F. Carver

Melungeons

Melungeon Movement In the Past Decade – by Jim Callahan

American Indian Melungeon Book By Karlton Douglas

Wikipedia Definations of Melungeon-ness

National Melungeon Registry

The Uncertainty of Melungeons – by Karlton Douglas

Dictionary of Genealogy and Archaic Terms – by Dick Eastman

On The Bookshelf – Fannie Lane Steele

A Tribute to Dorothy Hall Witt

Dorothy Hall Witt our distinguished first president and charter member of the Wise County Historical Society was instrumental in the compiling and publishing of The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton, Volume 1 and 2, among other publications. She was also instrumental in the establishing of the Wise County Historical Society. She served as the President of the Historical Society the first years of its establishment.

Dorothy at Work

First President of Wise County Historical Society

We, the members of the Wise County Historical Society, would like to take this opportunity to offer a tribute to our first president, Dorothy Hall Witt. Without her foresight and perseverance the Historical Society of Wise County would not exist today.

Dorothy Hall Witt our distinguished first president and charter member of the Wise County Historical Society was instrumental in the compiling and publishing of The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton, Volume 1 and 2, among other publications. She was also instrumental in the establishing of the Wise County Historical Society. She served as the President of the Historical Society the first years of its establishment.

While helping on the Lee County Book Committee in the creating of the Bicentennial History of Lee County Virginia published in 1991, Dorothy felt the need for the same in Wise County, and was instrumental in forming a group of Wise County historians who published their own Heritage of Wise County and the City of Norton Volume 1 in 1993. She was Chairman of the Book Committee and was elected President of the Wise County Historical Society when it was organized.

For the past 8 years Dorothy has served as recording secretary for the Wise County Historical Society and has worked a day or two a week at the office in the courthouse. She also is the editor of the Aging Gracefully segment of the Appalachian Quarterly published by Wise County Historical Society. She along with her friend and co-worker, Wanda Rose traveled over the county working on volume 1 of Wise County and the City of Norton, and installing lifelines for disabled and the elderly, she became interested in interviewing older people, which was the birth of Aging Gracefully in Appalachia.

Dorothy’s heritage is completely Appalachian as her father was a native of Lee County and her mother was a native of Russell County. Dorothy was born in Norton, grew up in Powell Valley, graduated from East Stone Gap High School, lived in Coeburn for twenty years and has lived in Wise for the past 33 years. She completed several courses at Clinch Valley College in English, Creative writing and Appalachian culture.

Dorothy worked for 14 years for the Department of Social Services, then worked as a medical transcriptionist and secretary at Wise Appalachian Regional Hospital for 19 years, retiring in 1989 to travel and pursue all the volunteer activities in which she was interested.

She has two sons, Hal Addington of Pinckney, Michigan, and Tim Addington of Atlanta, Georgia, and one granddaughter, April Addington, a sophomore at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Dorothy is married to Harold Witt and they reside in Wise.

Dorothy is a dedicated member, wife, mother, and grandmother. She is good company and has a great sense of humor.