Sudderth

Allen “Pappy” Sudderth and his wife Lucy “Gran” Sudderth moved to Norcross around 1915. He worked as town marshal and later as a mechanic for the post office, and he also helped local resident Gene Warbington build a concrete swimming pool near the corner of Barton Street and Holcomb Bridge Road. It was open to the community for swimming for 10 cents per day, but the Sudderths’ son Richard recalled that as a kid he bartered his way in – he traded two pecks of apples for two days of swimming. 

In July of 1916 Allen Sudderth was involved in a shootout in downtown Norcross. While he was attempting to subdue a rowdy patron at a traveling carnival that was set up in town another man drew a gun and started firing, causing the marshal to do the same. One man died and several, including the marshal, were in hospital for extended periods.

Pappy and Gran had 15 children, 9 of whom lived
 to adulthood. The family lived in several houses around Norcross over the years, including in a two story house on South Peachtree Street that is still standing.

The Sudderth sons were well represented in World War II. Joseph Sudderth had joined the army in the late 1930s, and was set to be discharged on Monday December 8, 1941 at the end of his enlistment period – but, with the attack on Pearl Harbor the day before, emergency orders were issued, and Joe Sudderth was retained in the service for the duration of the war, spending most of that time at Fort Gordon, near Augusta,. 

Jepp Sudderth joined the Coast Guard, serving on a cutter based in Pascagoula MS, the USS Saranac. Richard Sudderth joined the navy on his 18th birthday, a few weeks before his scheduled graduation from high school in 1943, and became a radio operator, serving on the USS Thornhill in the Pacific. (The local high school allowed his mother to take his place in the graduation ceremonies, as he was away at basic training by that point.)