Obituaries

Jun 22, 2020
Issue 3414

Links to Jim Sutterfield’s and Elissa Goldstein’s obituaries can be found at the bottom of this Gazette.

Thoughts and Reflections

Alan,

Where to start? Certainly has been a sad half a year for our beloved Club. Today, I mourn the loss of Jim Sutterfield and Elissa Goldstein. A few weeks ago it was David Schultz, and a few months before that, it was Lon Knickerbocker. Although I have some personal stories to tell of my times shared with Jim Sutterfield, who I felt was just a great guy, who I was always looking forward to seeing each Fall. I don’t wish to tell any stories, I just want my fellow club members and readers of the Gazette to know that every loss for me is so very personal, because over the past many years I would look forward to attending the annual Symposium, much of that anticipation was to see my fellow Club members, and regale in our shared passion for Glass. It’s hard for me to put into words how my passion for glass has influenced my life, but I can tell you that every Symposium that I have been fortunate enough to attend for the past many years, has afforded me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people with my shared passion. I would imagine that many of you Gazette readers who have attended may feel likewise. Today I mourn the loss of two more of my glass family, and our shared times together. Mark Chamovitz

Alan –

Saddened to hear of Jim’s passing. I spent many good times with he and Alice at various auctions and Carder Steuben symposiums. I put him onto a black sherbet once and I was his best friend for at least a week. Very knowledgeable guy with lots of Corning Inc. stories. I will miss him. Peter Bennett

My condolences to Susan Wilks and her family. Fran Gabel

I am saddened to learn of Jim Sutterfield’s passing, and would speak to a special kindness of his, extended last year, when I informed him that I had broken my 2680 yellow opalescent sherbet. Not only was he the king on the sherbet and underplot domain, but I believe it was his discovery of that new color that put the name yellow opalescent into existence on the website. He willingly sold me his example, as it left his remaining saucer bereft of its sherbet. That he could so graciously disassemble what ought remain a ‘set’ gave me a great sense of guilt. (If memory serves correctly, when he came upon this new color, with its iridescence, and wondered what to call it, I seem to remember that Tom Dimitroff suggested he ought to have ‘naming rights.’ Yellow opalescent was the new entry in the Carder palette.)

Before meeting Jim in person, I had been in touch with him, some years previous. My sister’s late husband, Jerry Young was a friend of Jim’s at Corning, and so I first met him when I came back to Corning for a family visit. Invited to Jim and Alice’s home, I viewed his great collection, and years later returned the favor when he and Alice came to San Diego for a visit. From my start in collecting Carder 44 years ago, when living in Seattle and given welcome access to his personal collection by Dick Bright, I vowed I would always love to have any other collectors visit my home and enjoy my collection. Several members have taken me up on that offer, and my invite to those coming to San Diego remains a standing one.

My thoughts are with Alice and Susan Wilks,

Regards,

David Chadwick-Brown

I’m so sorry for Elissa Goldstein’s loss and will miss her. She was a good friend and knowledgeable person in antiquity especially glass. I was so happy to have her as a part of my Steuben life. She and David Goldstein taught me a lot about this field and also other glassware. She will be missed but I have so many wonderful memories.

Beth Shaut

Thank you for letting us know about Jim Sutterfield. He will truly be missed. I remember so many good memories of Jim & his collecting. One in particular was a set of 8 Green Sherbet & Underplates that we had bought in Harrisburg. He didn’t have that color green in his collection and wanted just one of them but we had bought them for a customer that we had been selling thing in that color. He kept trying to get us to sell him one. He could be a little persistent at time. We had already sold a 8 place setting set to our customer and had let him know about the sherbet sets all ready. Jim would stop by once a week until our customer picked the set up. I really wish I could have found another one for him. It was always fun getting together for discussions on the different colors of Carder Steuben. I will miss him very much.

Beth Shaut

Symposium 2025
Carder Steuben Glass Association
19-20 September 2025
© Carder Steuben Glass Association Inc.