The lead actress in "Norma Rae", Crystal Lee Sutton, has died after a bout of brain cancer at the age of 68. The title of a recently released Yahoo! article celebrating her life is "Inspiration for "Norma Rae" dies at 68" and she was indeed inspirational. The first sentence is "Crystal Lee Sutton, whose fight to unionize southern textile plants with low pay and poor conditions was dramatized in the movie "Norma Rae" has died". So it seems like Sutton was extremely generous in the way she fought for the welfare of others.

According to her son Jay Jordan, "She fought it as long as she could and she crossed over into her new life", which may sound soothing, but unfortunately, it's a euphemism for a very sad event.

Actress Sally Field, who portrayed Sutton in "Norma Rae", remembered someone who won a Best Actress Academy Award. In a statement, Field said Sutton was "a remarkable woman whose brave struggles have left a lasting impact on this country and on me personally. Portraying Crystal Lee Sutton in 'Norma Rae' however loosely based elevated me, NOT ONLY AS AN ACTRESS, BUT AS A HUMAN BEING". Being a good person is much more important than being a good entertainer.

Jordan continued: "When they find out she lived very, very modestly, even poorly in Burlington, they're surprised" and if what Jordan says is true, people shouldn't be surprised that his mother lived a simple life.

"She never would have been rich. SHE WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT TO ANYONE SHE CALLED THE WORKING CLASS POOR, the deprived".

In 2007, Sutton, after donating her letters and papers to Alamance Community College, explained why she did what she did: "I didn't want them to go to some fancy university. I wanted them to go to a college THAT SERVED THE ORDINARY FOLKS". Universities may also "serve the ordinary folks", but only if these institutions with lofty research credentials put more emphasis on teaching. After all, if all the emphasis is placed on graduate students and research and undergraduate students are neglected, where will the next group of graduate students come from after the current graduate students leave/graduate? Of course, there will be a new group of graduate students, but these students will lack fundamental knowledge and skills and this may potentially be catastrophic. In fact, ignoring fundamentals was a major cause of the current financial crisis.