Bev Sutherland, seated center, with, from left, daughter, Kylee Sutherland-Maxwell; spouse, Tammy Maxwell; son, Wade McRae; and daughter, Kelly McRae, with her fiancé, James Jackson.

Teacher Bev Sutherland remembered for her gifts of music and acceptance

By LINDA CHION KENNEY

Tributes are pouring in for educator Beverly Sutherland, a long-time Riverview resident who shared her passion for music with thousands of students over the course of her 35-year teaching career.

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At a Bloomingdale High football game in 2009, Bev Sutherland left, with Deon McFayden, center, president of the boosters club, and Coleen Petree, school secretary and colorguard sponsor.

“She really believed that music belonged to everyone,” said actor, singer and poet Megan Wicks, who graduated in 2011 from Bloomingdale High, where she sang with Sutherland’s Ambassadors show choir.

“Bev Sutherland defined my career by teaching me how to sing jazz, and you sing jazz by understanding the power, the spirituality and the soul of music,” Wicks said. “She taught me how to feel music. And if I didn’t know that, I would not have done half the things that I’ve done in my career.”

Wicks this month reconnected on Zoom with her fellow Ambassadors to share their fondest Sutherland memories.

“We recorded our voices for, ‘Sing Me to Heaven,’” Wicks said. “She told us a long time ago she wanted that sung at her funeral. Hopefully, after all this with the coronavirus, we’ll get together at some sort of venue and get to do that. We want to sing to her again.”

That time will come, once the coronavirus pandemic is in check and large crowds can be accommodated, said Sutherland’s daughter, Kelly McRae. “She didn’t want a funeral, but she did agree to let us have a Celebration of Life at Bloomingdale High.”

Sutherland died Thursday, Aug. 6 after a five-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 66.

For the Altoids-loving teacher affectionately known as “Suth,” who taught chorus, show choir, orchestra and band, Facebook tributes are many and far-reaching.

“Suth, there aren’t enough words to say that describe how much we are going to miss you and your heart,” said former student Jareb Mendez. “You live on in the hearts of the many people whose lives you touched.”

“There was not a day that went by that she didn’t make us feel important,” said Ambassador alumnus Becca Cardenas. “She empowered us, she protected us, she pushed us and she loved us — immeasurably. How lucky we are to have been touched by the selfless, dedicated, hilarious light she brought to this world.”

Former student Courtney Hunter remembers Sutherland as “a driving force in our education and coming-of-age process.”

“High school is hard for anyone that is even a little bit different, and I was definitely a quirky (weird) kid,” Hunter said. “I never felt awkward around Suth. She welcomed all of her ‘babies’ exactly as they arrived.”

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Long-serving choral instructor Bev Sutherland, with her colleague John Sever, long-serving director of bands, at Bloomingdale High in May 2010.

McRae said Sutherland in hospice shed a tear over every tribute. “She kept saying, ‘They don’t know how much they saved me,’” McRae said. “She needed them as much as they needed her.”

Born in Swinden, England, where her father served in the U.S. Air Force, Sutherland arrived in Florida in her early teens and graduated from Brandon High. She married Tammy Maxwell, and they were together for 33 years. “My mother really just wanted people to be kind and to accept everybody for who they are,” McRae said. “That was her biggest thing. She never judged anybody.”

First married to McRae’s father, McRae said, “it was a blessing” that her parents remained extremely close after their divorce, even spending holidays together as an extended family. Growing up there were countless concerts and performances, McRae added, and everywhere they went Sutherland would run into current and former students. A woman of strong faith, Sutherland served stints as choir director at both Bell Shoals Baptist Church and Riverview United Methodist Church.

McRae said her mother loved Elvis Presley, jazz and the blues, but she was not a fan of country music (“It was too whiny.”) She loved Ray Charles’ rendition of “Georgia” and loved musicals, in general. And with “a really good ear for music, she could correct a tone or pitch in the blink of an eye.” She considered taking her Ambassadors to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City a highlight of her career.

Liz Stewart, director of vocal activities at Riverview High, first met Sutherland when Stewart was a student at Brandon High and in the Aquila show choir. “Bev went out of her way to let me now how much she liked and appreciated my performance,” Stewart said. “You expect that from your own teacher, but you don’t always expect that from other teachers.”

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Bev Sutherland, left, with her Ambassadors show choir, at the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce annual dinner, Jan. 25, 2008.

Later, as a private music teacher, Stewart worked with several students who were Sutherland’s Ambassadors. When Stewart directed Jesus Christ, Superstar at Riverview High in 2007, Sutherland was the musical director. And when Stewart landed her job as choral director at Riverview High, “Bev volunteered to be my mentor and got me through my first year of teaching,” Stewart said.

“Being a music teacher was a part of who Bev was, and her former students are everywhere,” Stewart said. “Her legacy will live on through her students.”

Among them is Amber Smith, who said in her Facebook post that she last saw Sutherland in 1999, and that a quote from Mr. Holland’s Opus best exemplifies her beloved teacher:

“Look around you,” the quote reads. “There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each one of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony … We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. And we are the music of your life.”

Sutherland is survived by her spouse, Tammy Maxwell; son, Wade McRae; daughters Kelly McRae and Kylee Sutherland-Maxwell; and three grandchildren, Ethan, Austyn and Kinley. A GoFundMe page, launched by organizer Kellie Harmon, as of Aug. 11 had raised $26,000 to help the family deal with funeral expenses.

A highlight of her career was conducting her Ambassadors at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

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Bev Sutherland and her Ambassadors, Dec. 7, 2007, at Winthrop Town Centre in Riverview, for the annual Christmas tree lighting celebration.

Bev Sutherland, right, on her horse, Encore, who died this year at age 21.