Bruce David Sutton

Bruce Sutton, a lifelong resident of the Crabtree community, passed on into the peace of Jesus on Monday December 1, 2025, due to complications from dementia.

Born in Haywood County January 23, 1947, he was the son of Earl B. Sutton and Mary Viola Guy Sutton, who preceded him in death. Bruce spent his childhood playing and hunting all over the mountains he loved while learning the value and necessity of hard work.

He graduated from Waynesville Township High School, where he played football and a few practical jokes with his buddies. He was a member of the 1964 3A Region 2 championship team at WTHS and, after graduating, continued his education at Appalachian State by earning a football scholarship. He loved being a Mountaineer!

Bruce worked for Dayco for 28 years, was a former member of the HCS board of education and a farmer by trade and choice his whole life, working tobacco for many years then later on raising too many goats to count with his wife, Karen. He had a deep connection to the land that endured beyond the other things dementia took from him.

After Dayco closed, he began years long work taking down and salvaging lumber from old houses, barns and other structures, which he enjoyed so much he didn’t think of it as work. Many times, he located these by driving along the backroads of WNC and Eastern TN, but as his business grew, people would reach out to him wanting to have these buildings removed or sometimes relocated. In an article featuring him, published in Log Homes magazine, he was referred to as “the cabin scout”, who could easily pass as a “visitor from centuries before with a hardworking wilderness spirit that gave him the quintessential carve-a-home in the woods mentality”.

His hands were rarely still. He believed in lending a hand to anyone in need and built a legacy defined by generosity and strength of spirit. He was, like so many others of his time, the epitome of what it means to be “mountain people”.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Karen; his sister Cheryl Frazier; and his niece Brandy Smith.

He will be lovingly remembered by his daughters Kelli Sutton-McCoy (son in law Brent, with whom he shared a special friendship) and Jessica Edwards (son in law, Russell) and two beautiful granddaughters, Blakely and Saylor Edwards; also his brother, Martin Sutton (Sara) and his sisters, Jerrie Smith and Jackie Worley who visited, encouraged and continued to love on him during the last part of his life.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, December 14, 2025, 2:00 PM at Rock Springs Baptist Church, 2554 Liner Creek Rd, Clyde, NC. Family will greet friends in the fellowship hall immediately after the service.

The care of Mr. Sutton has been entrusted to Wells Funeral Home of Waynesville