R. E. "BUDDY" SUTTON
July 24, 1922 - June 24, 2006
MOUNT OLIVE -- Mr. R. E. "Buddy" Sutton, 83, died Saturday at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday at Wayne Memorial Park with Dr. H. Dennis Draper, Jr. officiating and Masonic Rites will be conducted.
The Sutton family will receive friends today from 4 until 6 p.m. at Tyndall Funeral Home in Mount Olive, and at other times at the residence at 853 Old Smith Chapel Road, Mount Olive.
Born in Sampson County, Mr. Sutton finished high school and attended Coyne Electrical College in Chicago, Illinois for four years. In August of 1946, he founded Sutton Electric Company, Inc. in Mount Olive, retiring in 2001 after 55 years of successfully operating his business.
Mr. Sutton had a love for traveling, having traveled the world over, including a trip to Antarctica. He enjoyed the coast, was an avid fisherman, enjoyed gardening and his orchard, the fruits of which he shared with others, and according to his family, he made the "best peach ice-cream in the world."
As a member of Mount Olive Masonic Lodge 208 A.F. & A.M., the Wayne Shrine Club, Sudan Mini-Rigs, the Royal Order of Jesters, and York Rite and Scottish Rite bodies, he contributed much to various charitable causes, including the Shriners Children's Hospital and Burn Centers. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Mount Olive and, for a number of years, had served on the board of the N. C. Electrical Contractors Association and had been a member of Mount Olive Commitee of 100.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Vertie Viola Creel Sutton; his father, Dolphus Whitfield Sutton, and his step-mother, Lucy Sutton, along with sisters, Lucille S. Jones, and Olive S. Leeuwenburg, and brothers, Maylon Sutton, Sambo Sutton, and Kent Sutton.
His surviving family includes his wife of 63 years, Geneva Grimes Sutton; a daughter, Mary Brooks Sutton of Steilacoom, Wa.; two sons and daughters-in-law, Dwight "Tenny" Sutton and Jean Sutton of Sleepy Creek at Dudley, and Tony Sutton and Shelia Sutton of Newton Grove; six grandchildren, Dwight Sutton, Jr. of Goldsboro, Chris Sutton of Mount Olive, Cameron Sutton of Dudley, Ashley Sutton and Victoria Sutton, both of Newton Grove, and Dawn Phillips of Bennett; three great-grandchildren, Brooks Sutton and Zachary Sutton, both of Chicago, Ill., and Chloe Sutton of Grantham; three brothers, Nelas Sutton of Mount Olive, Morris Sutton of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Dennis Sutton of Mount Olive; and four sisters, Geraldine S. Taylor of Faison, Faye S. Phillips of Charlotte, Linda S. Creech of Goldsboro, and Lorraine S. Willeford of Danville, Virginia; many nieces and nephews; three special caregivers, Louise Dobson, Edith Sasser and Mavis Swinson, all of Mount Olive.
Flowers are welcome, or memorial gifts may be sent to Shriners Children's Hospital and Burn Centers, c/o Sudan Shrine Temple, P.O. Drawer 490, New Bern, N.C. 28563.
R. E."Buddy" Sutton, remembered as a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, and friend.
(Written and paid by the family)
Published in Obituaries on June 25, 2006 9:23 AM