Barrett Boulware Sutton

Mr. Sutton is survived by: his daughter Katherine Apel ( Pat ) of Wheelersburg, Ohio; his son Barrett Sutton Jr. ( Carolyn ) of Nashville; and his son Wade Sutton Sr. of Durham New Hampshire and Fosterville, Tennessee; nine grandchildren Therese Woodward Apel, Mary Donelson Apel Montavon ( Justin ), and John Patrick Apel Jr. ( Lenea ),Brook Sutton, Katherine Leigh Sutton Radinovic ( Marko ),and Anna Boulware Sutton, William Wade Sutton Jr. ( Rashmi ), Francis Price Sutton , Sarah Elizabeth Sutton Osborne ( Clay ); four great-grandchildren Grace and Marshall Montavon and Penelope and George Sutton.

He is preceded in death by his father James Phinazee Sutton Sr., mother Katherine Boulware Sutton, brother James Phinazee Sutton Jr., half sister Rose and half brother Carl. His wife of 63 years, Mary Terecia Wade Sutton died September 20, 2012.

Born at home in Forsyth Georgia in Monroe County on July 6,1927, he lost his father before finishing high school. He and his mother eventually moved to Cairo Georgia in Grady county, living with his aunt Elizabeth Boulware Mayes and her husband Marshall. He attended his final year of high school at Baylor in Chattanooga Tennessee. He attended Vanderbilt University for his undergraduate degree, where he achieved Phi Beta Kappa, and for his law degree, where he earned the Order of the Coif, honoring the top ten per cent of the class. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi undergraduate fraternity. Before graduating, he served in the US Navy, and made port in Nagasaki Japan, touring the site of the atomic destruction.

At Vanderbilt, he met and married Mary Wade, his wife of sixty-three years. Family history alleges that they selected a September first wedding date because his father-in-law, Judge William James Wade, was also an avid dove hunter, and they planned to be together every opening day of dove season to celebrate the anniversary.

Immediately after law school, Mr. Sutton joined the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee, where he worked until they were incorporated into the American General insurance group. He retired as associate general counsel of the merged L&C and National Life and Accident unit, at the age of 58.

He was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, with decades of service as deacon, elder, and Director of Christian education. He helped draft the deed transfer when the downtown church was ceded to its new owners as the First Church moved to Franklin road.

He served on Nashville's Metro Planning Commission. He was a member of the Exchange Club. He was an avid lifelong supporter of Vanderbilt and saw all three of his children and two of his grandchildren finish degrees there. He was an accomplished bridge player, loved rose gardening in particular, played tennis, enjoyed hunting, studied genealogy, and hosted family and friends in Destin Florida and later Santa Rosa beach.

His final wish was to live his life to the end in the home he and his wife built and then to be buried beside her at the church they loved. His remains will be inurned in the columbarium at First Presbyterian Church. There will be a reception in Courtenay Hall at First Presbyterian Church on Franklin Rd at 11 AM until 1 PM on Thursday, November 5. The funeral service will be at 1 PM in the sanctuary. The family requests no flowers and suggests a charitable contribution in support of education is preferable.

Particular and heartfelt appreciation is expressed for his surviving lifelong friends, for his attentive and supportive church, and for his caregivers in his final illness, who were unforgettably gracious and compassionate.

Visit the online obituary: www.MarshallDonnellyCombs.com