*A Parents Worst Nightmare*
"I Believed, I Trusted, I lost!"
Michelle was the third of eight children in our family. Like her Father, Michelle loved to joke around. She loved everyone in her family and they loved her. Michelle was great with little children. When family or friends would come to visit, Michelle would play with the children and care for them while the adults would visit. Michelle loved to draw. We have the picture Michelle drew of a Flamingo hanging in our living room. I remember Michelle showing this picture to me before she received a grade on it. She asked me what I thought of her picture. I thought her picture was very good and I told her so. “You’re my Mother, she said, so you have to say that.” I was not surprised when I learned that Michelle’s art teacher gave her a B+ for a grade. Michelle wanted to be a pre-school teacher when she grew up. Another dream of hers was to be an interior decorator. Michelle was somewhat of a perfectionist. I realized this when she was a little girl and I was putting barrettes in her hair as she was standing in front of a mirror. She said to me, "they're crooked Mommy." Michelle loved to play the piano. I have a picture of Michelle and Natalie (1 year old then) sitting side by side at the piano. Natalie loved to sit next to her sister, as she would play. Michelle is partly the reason we had our eighth child Natalie. She kept after us to have another baby. Michelle and her older sister Christina came with us to the hospital when I gave birth to Natalie. We had arranged for Michelle to help with the delivery of Natalie by cutting the cord and giving Natalie her first bath. However, due to complications with the delivery of Natalie, I ended up having a C-Section. We took our children fishing a lot while they were growing up. We did not get much fishing done, but they had a lot of fun. Michelle loved to fish. I have a picture of Michelle with a big smile on her face, as she holds up the first fish she caught. On one of our fishing trips, Michelle slipped and fell into the river. I can still see the look in her eyes, as she was slipping into the water away from us. Her Dad reached out and pulled her up. On the day of Michelle’s eighth grade graduation, her Dad saved her from a most embarrassing situation. Michelle was wearing a beautiful cream-colored dress. When she got up from her seat to walk up the isle to receive her diploma we noticed that she had started her monthly. Michelle’s Dad walked up and escorted her to receive her diploma so the stain on her dress would not be visible. When Michelle was 15, she was hanging out with a certain group of kids. She was skipping school and experimenting with drugs and alcohol. It was not until Michelle was date raped that I became weak and desperate. Michelle and I were very close. I could feel her pain. In all the years of raising my eight children, I never reached outside my own home and family for help. However, this time, I did! By word of mouth I learned of a Wilderness Experiential Program called Summit Quest. After many phone calls to the Director of the program, and looking through the brochures they sent to us, Michelle and her family were "SOLD" on this program. Michelle's Uncle Jerry and her Brother Steve wished they could go too! Michelle was excited about her enrollment in the Summit Quest Program. She was looking forward to the School Credits she was to receive. Michelle was also hoping to get buff and tan as she participated in this out door program.Michelle died on May 9, 1990, while in the care of the Summit Quest Program, Utah. The program that "SOLD" itself as a "FULL TIME RESIDENTIAL INPATIENT WILDERNESS THERAPY FACILITY" turned out to be a DO or DIE forced march through the desert. Michelle died on day 7 of what was to be a 63-day program. Michelle collapsed and died of dehydration due to exposure to the elements on a dirt road in Arizona. Our daughter laid on the dirt for 22 hours as the surviving kids lit three fires to summon help. A sightseeing aircraft spotted the survivors and called for help. After Michelle died, we traveled to the place where she died. As I walked the dirt trail leading to the place Michelle died, I could feel the gentle wind blowing in my face and sucking the moisture right out of my body. I got thirsty just walking about a hundred yards. I can only imagine what my child suffered as she hiked up and over MT. Dellumbaugh that day. Michelle’s best friend in High School was Andrea Dawes. Andrea was in the Summit Quest Program along with Michelle. Andrea stuck up for Michelle as the female counselor kept saying Michelle’s symptoms were all in her head. This female counselor treated Michelle badly. Andrea tried to convince the counselors that Michelle was not faking. On the day Michelle died, the group had run out of water. Michelle was begging for water. She was having a lot of trouble with the hike up and over MT. Dellumbaugh. Andrea took the risk of having her own water poured out, or taken away, as she slipped capfuls of water to her dying friend Michelle. The program had a rule about sharing water. The kids could not share! The Summit Quest Program Director, Gayle Palmer, later claimed on national TV that this rule was for HEALTH REASONS! Andrea is married now and has children of her own. She named her first little girl after Michelle.When Michelle died, I made picture collages for everyone in our family who knew and loved her the way we do. I noticed (not having noticed before) that there was not one picture of Michelle with a frown on her face. As we looked back on the times when we protected our little girl, we were grief stricken that those who were supposed to care for, and protect our daughter, did not protect her the way we would have. A few months after Michelle died, her sister Lisa brought me a drawing tablet that Michelle had given to her. On one of the pages in this tablet was the name Natalie Lynn Michelle written all over the page. I later learned from Michelle’s sister Christina that she and Michelle had done this together. We realized that Michelle wanted Natalie named after her. Therefore, for Michelle’s “would be” sixteenth Birthday we had Natalie’s name changed from Natalie Renee, to Natalie Lynn Michelle. When Michelle died, Summit Quest Director, Gayle Palmer, spread a false rumor about our daughter, saying that Michelle smuggled cocaine into the program and died of an overdose. We silenced this rumor by requesting that an extensive drug screen take place on Michelle. The Program then spread another rumor claiming that Michelle lacked the will to live and was NOT a survivor. The Highly Trained Survival Experts "SOLD" to us, let our daughter die of dehydration. Now, they were blaming Michelle for her own death. I believe that a little love, common sense, and respect for the gift of human life could have saved our daughter. I understand that the former Director of the Summit Quest Program, Gayle Palmer, is back in Utah, and has since worked at several programs involving children. I understand she has helped Referral Agencies such as P.U.R.E. with the placement of children in various programs. I must forgive, but cannot ignore, what happened to my child, and many others to follow, in the name of "help and therapy." I have often said, "I could not have done TO Michelle what was done TO her and walked away a free person." Why is it, I ask, that the people running these programs continue to get away with neglect, abuse, molestation, rape, and murder? It is time to STOP the inhumane "treatment" of children. The time is NOW Sincerely, Mother of Michelle Lynn Sutton, Catherine SuttonMy Michelle
For More Information Contact Cathy Sutton at: msmemfund@hotmail.com
*~Family Video~*
Copyright 2008 by Michelle Sutton Memorial Catherine Sutton. All rights reserved
International Survivors Action Committee
