WHS PRINCIPAL -
HARRY B. SUTTER
A SPECIAL LEAP YEAR BIRTHDAY By ANDY HILL
Happy birthday, Mr. Sutter.
I never fail to think of Harry B. Sutter when Leap Year rolls around. His first name was Harry, not Harold. Until he died I didn't know that his middle name was Benedict.
It really didn't matter, because in my world he was Mr. Sutter. If I could speak to him today he'd still be Mr. Sutter.
In school we'd sometimes make a deal out of Mr. Sutter's birthday and we'd giggle to think that our venerable high school principal was only 14 or 15 years old (by our childish reckoning). In truth, his birthday was a teaching tool used by some of our teachers to point out a quirk in the calendar.
I think of Mr. Sutter today because of the gift he was to our community, to generations of parents and students. He was principal when my mother was in school. He was principal when I was in school.
Literally thousands of kids got off to a good start through our schools, and Mr. Sutter was a major influence in every good thing that happened.
He was fated, I think, to be a lifetime educator.
Mr. Sutter tried to enlist during World War II, but he was sent home to continue to do what he did so well, which was to lead an educational community in a quiet, dignified and effective way. Instead of a stint as a soldier he was saddled with the added responsibility of being school superintendent when his colleague, superintendent John Thomas, went off to serve the nation.
I wasn't much of a problem for a school principal. I now identify myself as "king of the nerds" when I was in high school. How else would you identify the student council president?
Serving as president was a learning experience, as Mr. Sutter was the man in charge of all that happened at WHS. I studied the student council constitution and found that — other than being elected and duly constituted — the council's only responsibility and prerogative was to regularly change the motivational statements that hung above the water fountains on the first, second and third floors.
It struck me as wrong, and I pushed the envelope a little. We had what amounted to what we now call "casual Friday" while I was in school. What this meant was the girls didn't have to wear dresses, skirts or slacks, but they could wear blue jeans and SHORTS!
My friends and I sometimes talk about our school days, and the subject of Mr. Sutter comes up.
"What did you think of Mr. Sutter?" my buddy, Mel Rajala, once asked me.
I thought it might have been a loaded question. Mel is an educator now, but he was, shall we say, a little bit edgier than I during our high school years.
"I thought he was great," I told him, but waited for the other foot to fall when I asked, "What did you think of him?"
"Perfect!" said Mel.
He didn't have to say much more.
As a student I sometimes found myself puzzling over the lives my school superiors lived. I wasn't alone.
Classmate Ron Wanink, whose parents were friends with the Sutters, once told me what a shock it was to see Mrs. Sutter wearing a pair of pants to go berry picking with Irv and Margaret Wanink and their tribe. (Mrs. Sutter's name was Martha, but she will forever by Mrs. Sutter to WHS students.)
I also learned that Mr. Sutter was an excellent walleye fisherman, and knew Lake Gogebic like almost no one else.
I was extremely proud of our community when, during a Veterans Day Program, the VFW and Legion members surprised Mr. Sutter by taking him arm-in-arm to the center of Cardinal Gym to honor his patriotism and service to the nation. They knew he was not allowed to serve, but they also knew that he was no slacker.
Conversely, I was most disappointed when the school district belatedly offered to name our football field Sutter Field. It was an honor that came far too late. Mr. Sutter was suffering with cancer and had only a little time left.
He was honored at a football game, but was unable to attend. I understand he was able to listen to the program over WJMS, which was on hand to cover the game.
His response to the proffered renaming of the field was typical.
"The Cardinals play on Cardinal Field," he said.
There ended the discussion.
When our current superintendent, Larry Kapugia, and I discussed the goals we might have for the 2008 all-school reunion, Larry suggested a scholarship for a Wakefield student might be a nice objective. I agreed, and suggested we work to enhance the scholarship now being presented in Mr. Sutter's honor by the Wakefield-Bessemer Rotary Club.
It turned out Larry didn't know much about Mr. Sutter. In some ways his story is, of course, ancient history.
I suggested to Larry that we might write a paragraph that could be read each time the Sutter Scholarship is presented, reminding the Wakefield-Marenisco School community (and whatever school body eventually succeeds it) of a fine legacy.
I believe we'll raise more than enough money to cover the costs of our all-school gathering. What's left over will be earmarked to attempt to endow the Sutter Scholarship.
In this way, our community will be called upon to remember one of its finest adopted sons in perpetuity.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Sutter.
EVENT WILL HONOR HARRY B. SUTTER
By ANDY HILL, Editor, WNBPA
WAKEFIELD — It will be a celebration with a cause.
Fundraising for the 2008 Wakefield All-School Reunion has begun in conjunction with the Wakefield Fourth of July Committee. The committee has agreed that any funds raised beyond the cost of the celebration will be used to begin the endowment of the Harry B. Sutter Scholarships, presented annually by the Wakefield-Bessemer Rotary Club.
Sutter resigned on March 8, 1971, after serving as principal here for 33 years. For 2 1/2 of those years he was acting superintendent.
Born in Springfield, Mo., he attended schools there and received a bachelor's degree from Southwest Missouri State College. He received a master's degree from the University of Michigan and did further graduate study at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Purdue University.
Prior to arriving in Wakefield in 1938 with his wife, Martha, and their 4-year-old son, Joe, he taught at Nixa, Mo., and there served as superintendent. He then served as principal at Webb City, Mo.
Sutter was well respected by students, faculty and his fellow administrators.
"He visited me in the classroom pretty many times," said longtime WHS teacher Eugene Maki. "I got along with him really fine. I went on a lot of trips on school business with him. He ran a pretty good ship."
His personality lent itself to his work.
"He was a pretty thorough person in everything. As far as I could see he was always really fair-minded. I don't think I ever saw him angry, ever," said Maki.
The Rotary Club has received support from the Sutter family in continuing to honor Harry Sutter's name and educational legacy.
"Annually we present four Sutter scholarships, each of them worth $250, to an eligible recipient in the Bessemer and/or Wakefield-Marenisco Schools," said club president Julie Hautala. "The scholarship committee of Rotary actually sits down and looks at eligible students from the schools."
This process is done anonymously, as there are no names on the applications.
Fittingly, the key criterion for the award is scholarship.
"It is not need-based," said Hautala.
The Sutter family is still warmly remembered here.
Nancy (Luoma) Kangas served as secretary to the principal from 1956 to about 1962.
"I enjoyed working with him," she said. "He was very patient with me, and explained things very well. He was kind. He worked well with the teachers, but I enjoyed going to work every day. That's a good sign. "I just remember him being very concerned that the kids did the right things. I can still see him standing in the corner of the gym, watching the game and watching the hall at the same time."
Retired school administrator John Cox, a Wakefield student during the mid-1960s, saw Sutter as a mentor. "Probably No. 1 he was a man of high integrity," said Cox. "No. 2, I think he had compassion for all of his students, not just a certain few. My motto has always been fair, friendly, firm and consistent. That's what I learned from him. I just put some words to it."
Cox said he visited with his principal after he'd launched his own career in education.
"I had a conversation with him after he retired. I told him what I was doing," said Cox. "At that time I was involved in vocational education as a teacher. He told me that that was the best thing that came along. He said he just didn't know how to steer that certain segment of kids. That was something I remembered."
Mr. and Mrs. Sutter are buried in Springfield, Mo., near family members including their son, Joe, and Mrs. Sutter's twin sister.
A FATHER-IN-LAW REMEMBERED,
By JANET SUTTER
Harry Sutter, principal of Wakefield High School for 33 years, was my father-in-law, and I'm delighted that All-School Reunion funds, beyond the event expenses, will go to a scholarship honoring him.
Most important of all is that as many of you as possible attend that reunion and share the delight of seeing old friends with whom you share memories of life in Wakefield.
Andy Hill, whom I salute for his long-term efforts in making this reunion a success, has asked me to write an anecdote about Harry.
The one that first comes to mind I learned from Ziggy Urbanski, long after Harry passed away.
Shirley and Ziggy were wonderful in helping Martha Sutter in so many ways in her years as a widow. And there are many others to whom Joe, their son, and I were so grateful for their kindnesses to the Sutters over the years.
In the early '60s, Ziggy recalls, there were a lot of people in need in town. And he should know as the proprietor of Ziggy's Food Shop, where the Sutters and the whole town got their groceries.
At Christmas time Harry quietly handed Ziggy money (a lot of money for those days), and asked that it be used for groceries for families in need. Harry emphasized that he didn't want to know who received the groceries and (for Ziggy) not to tell anybody where the money came from.
Ziggy described Harry as "really good-hearted." More surprising, he mentioned that the Sutters had originally planned to stay in Wakefield just two years — they stayed for life.
I didn't get to see and talk with Harry as often as I would have liked, but I did so admire him. I remember him as a kind man of quiet dignity.
I hope to read more reminiscences about him in this paper, and hear more if I'm able to be in Wakefield for the Fourth. It will be one of two reunions this year, the other my own Will Rogers High School class in Tulsa, Okla. I cannot emphasize enough how joyful reunions are.
All the best, Janet Sutter
Postscript: Harry and Martha Sutter, and their son, Joe, are now buried in Springfield, Mo., (once their hometown), near the graves of Martha's twin sister, Mary, and many of Joe's uncles and aunts.
