Will Sudduth (2/27/1925-2/23/2005)


I went to my Uncle Will’s funeral Saturday in Hickory, N.C.
(William Sudduth, 2/25/1995 – 2/23/2005, a native of Coila, Miss., who lived nearly all his adult life on Snow Creek Road in Hickory in a house I spent many hours in as a child.)

The service included his sons, and grandsons and a couple nephews playing a few country/bluegrass songs, including the “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Guitars, electric bass, drums, fiddle, mandolin .. it was a nice tribute.

Eddie and Earl Sudduth, Stanley Edwards and lots of others have played music at family gatherings like Christmas and reunions for almost as long as I can remember … and Will certainly enjoyed that.
There was a wonderful story about a woman who noticed the wreath at the house and stopped and left a card. She said Will waved at her and her pre-school age daughter from his front porch nearly every morning and the daughter had called him “Paw Paw.” Even though they had never met and she didn’t know his name, Will had touched their lives.

While a sad reason to get together, I saw some cousins and their children and their grandchildren that I hadn’t seen in quit a while. That was good.