Former Wellfleet Building Inspector Gerald Clay Sutton of Orleans, builder of the Mainstay Motel, died peacefully at home on April 15, 2023 surrounded by his family. Even in his last hours, “He was still engaged with those around him, winking and making people smile,” his daughter, Michelle, said. He was 92.
The son of Jefferson Davis Sutton and Evelyn Naomi (Everrett) Sutton, Jerry was born on Sept. 27, 1930 in Miller, S. Dak. He grew up with three siblings on a ranch. Because his mother was hospitalized when he was three and never able to return home, he was raised by his father, through the Depression and World War II.
When Jerry was a teenager, his father remarried and, according to Michelle, things did not go well with his stepmother. Jerry got a job as a truck driver for the Miller Livestock Co. before joining the Army in 1945 when he was just 15.
After basic training and the end of the war, Jerry went to engineering school in Murnau, Germany. He was then stationed in Berlin as a construction machine operator during the early years of postwar occupation.
In 1949, Jerry reenlisted and remained in Berlin, where he met his wife, Hildegard, known as Hilla, after an adventure involving a dog and a boxing match. Hilla, Michelle said, had gone to the match with her dog, which got lost in the crowd. Jerry found the dog and took it to the local police station. He was told where Hilla lived so he could return the dog to her, which he promptly did. Soon thereafter they were married.
In 1952, Jerry was posted to the U.S. Army’s Camp Wellfleet. Hilla and their son, Michael, followed by boat, bringing with them a new German Shepherd named Dalia.
At his stateside post, Jerry was the utilities and maintenance foreman. He was discharged in 1953 with the rank of sergeant and having earned the World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Berlin Airlift Device, and Good Conduct Medal.
Jerry and family made Wellfleet their home. He worked as an electrician by day and a bartender at night at the Southward Inn in Orleans. Hilla worked with him there as a waitress. In 1958, the family welcomed daughter Michelle.
In 1967, Jerry built the 28-room Mainstay Motel in South Wellfleet with help from friends and family. Hilla worked in the office and Michelle was a chambermaid. Ever social, Jerry converted an adjacent garage into a coffee shop where he would chat with all who came in.
With the success of the Mainstay, Jerry became a licensed real estate agent and developed several subdivisions in Wellfleet, including Whidah Way. He served as Wellfleet’s building inspector, was the chair of the planning board, and managed the Chequessett Country Club golf course.
Jerry’s attachment to the community was evident in other ways: with his love of horses nurtured in his South Dakota childhood, he rode horseback down Main Street in the Wellfleet Fourth of July parades, and he enjoyed stringing Christmas lights on the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown.
Michelle remembers her father as a dedicated runner and avid golfer. She fondly recalls the water skiing parties Jerry would organize on Sundays off Jeremy Point in Wellfleet Harbor, and, she said, “He could always be found with his morning coffee group at the Lighthouse.”
By the 1980s, Jerry and Hilla began wintering in Green Valley, Ariz. and spending summers in Wellfleet. Jerry sold the motel in 1986, which left him more time with his shellfishing boat Hizzoner.
“My father helped a lot of people in Wellfleet,” Michelle said. “He would barter as a means to provide help, and he would at times even pay bills for others.”
Once, she said, “when I was about 50 and having a drink in the Bomb Shelter pub, a man asked me if I was Jerry Sutton’s daughter.” When she said she was, the man explained how grateful he was for the time Jerry helped him replace his damaged truck with a new one, at Jerry’s expense.
In the early 2000s, Jerry and Hilla moved to Orleans and in 2011 settled in their final home at Wise Living there. Jerry loved feeding the birds and bringing the morning papers to the residents. He could often be found in the kitchen preparing food for family and friends; he would not only cook a meal for a friend in need but would also deliver it.
He is survived by his son, Michael, and wife Jane of Orleans and daughter, Michelle, and husband Kerry of Weatogue, Conn; grandchildren Benjamin and wife Payal of Boston, William and Katherine Sutton of Northern California, Rhiannon Sutton of Wellfleet, and Haily Cataldo of Austin, Texas; and great-grandchildren Shreya and Jaitin Sutton.
Jerry was predeceased by his wife, Hildegard.
His family expressed thanks to health aides Susie, Heather, Suzanne, and Ruthie who made Jerry’s final months loving and full of winks and smiles.
A service will take place on Friday, June 2 at 11 a.m. at the Wellfleet Congregational Church with a reception to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to K9s for Warriors at k9sforwarriors.org or to the Wellfleet Food Pantry at wellfleetfoodpantry.org.
