Jean Ellen Sutton

Passed away peacefully on Sunday, December 21, 2025, with her children by her side. Jean was born in Kalamazoo, MI on July 18, 1938, to Joel and Velma Brown. She grew up with her older brother Joel in Kalamazoo and graduated from Comstock High School. In her younger years, she played basketball, loved dancing, and even excelled at ballet. Jean found an affection for horses, learning to ride at her best friends farm.

After High School, Jean fell in love and married a local boy, Robert Stuut. They had 2 children together, Robert Douglas and Tracy Jean. During this time, she raised two great kids and worked as a secretary for American National Bank, Shakespear, and MI Bell Telephone. Jean and Bob would often play cards with friends and neighbors. She took up gardening and developed a passion for growing beautiful plants and flowers.

After Jean and Bob’s amicable divorce, she eventually remarried to Edward Sutton in 1981. They moved from Kalamazoo to a nice house on the White River in Hesperia, MI. Together, they enjoyed traveling abroad and were involved in their small community. Ed’s successful marketing business kept them both extremely busy, but Jean always had time for dogs, especially Dachshunds. In her spare time, she enjoyed playing golf in a local woman’s league and took “English” Horse-Riding lessons. Jean and Ed would later move to Delton, MI to a house on Gilkey Lake where she soon had wonderful plants and flowers everywhere. She enjoyed the wildlife, swimming, and having lunch with her friends. Closer to her children, Jean loved spending more time with Robert and Tracy’s growing families. After Ed's passing in 2018, Jean moved to Portage, MI to be closer to her daughter Tracy. She attended church with her son Bobs’ family and made many new friends at the apartment complex where she lived, except on $1 Bingo Night when she and Tracy would often win big.

Jean will be remembered as a dedicated, kind, caring mother and wife, who was full of life. She loved that her children were successful and happy with wonderful families for her to cherish and enjoy. Jean was preceded in death by her older brother, Joel Brown and is survived by her children, Robert (Suzanne) Stuut and Tracy (Philip) Molloy; grandchildren, Robert (Danielle) Stuut, Lyndsay (Michael) Lawhead, Gevin Molloy (Ellie); plus 10 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Jeans life will be held in the spring of ’26, notifications pending.