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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, December 18, 2003

1909-2003
Campbell Estate heir Muriel Sutherland was 'just an average person'

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Muriel "Sis" Shingle Sutherland, granddaughter of James and Abigail Campbell and an heir to the Campbell Estate, died Sunday in Honolulu. She was 93.

Muriel Sutherland was active with the Red Cross and The Queen's Medical Center.
Sutherland was the oldest of three surviving grandchildren to James Campbell, a Scottish carpenter who became one of Hawai'i's most notable 19th-century land-owning businessmen. The estate, the state's second wealthiest landholding trust, is worth more than $2 billion.

The estate is set to terminate in 2007 and its assets will be distributed among more than 30 direct heirs. Sutherland held 5 percent interest.

Although she was a beneficiary of the large estate, she lived a normal life, said her son, Fred Trotter.

"She was just one of those people you wanted to be around," Trotter said. "You're not going to find her in the annals of Hawai'i history because she was just an average person."

Sutherland was born in Honolulu on Dec. 26, 1909. She graduated from Punahou School and attended the Notre Dame Convent in San Jose, Calif., and Briar Cliff College in Iowa.

She returned to Hawai'i and married Fred E. Trotter. She later married Ross Sutherland, who owned several clothing stores in Hawai'i.

Trotter said his mother was a homemaker who raised four of her own children, as well as the children of several relatives who died. She also was active with the Red Cross and The Queen's Medical Center.

Trotter said his mother was a dependable person who was well-liked and had many friends. Sutherland also was very close to her brothers and sisters, he said.

"There was a time when there wasn't anybody who was anybody that she didn't know. But she never used that. She never had to," Trotter said. "It's people like that who make Hawai'i what it is."

Sutherland is survived by sons, Fred, Robert "Lindy" and Jon Sutherland; daughter, Alicia "Auwe" Morris; brother, James Shingle; sister, Louise Stevenson; 15 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.

Services are pending.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.