More than 300 family, friends and admirers gathered at Resthaven Memorial Gardens outside Dandridge, Tenn. this past Saturday afternoon to pay their last respects to Maggie Valley moo­nshiner and folk hero – Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton.
Sutton took his own life in March, just days before he was due to report to federal prison in Tennessee to serve an 18-month sentence. Sutton’s widow, Pam, arranged the memorial service, saying, “I want to help everyone to have closure and to celebrate his life.”
Country music singer Hank Williams Jr., flew in from Nashville to sit at the widow Sutton’s side during the short service. Williams, who never met Popcorn, acknowledged, “I knew him from his talent.” “He was the last of the real mountain moonshiners that goes back years.”
Williams did not perform during the service. That honor went to Ali Randolph, who sang a touching song she had written about Popcorn, playing the guitar he had given her. Eulogies included Popcorn’s life-long friend, Mark Ramsey, who characterized Sutton as “The Genuine Article.”
At the conclusion of the service, Pam Sutton greeted and embraced many in attendance, before taking her place in the procession.
A 100-year old black, horse-drawn hearse – filled with flowers, Popcorn’s famous hat, a representative jug of moonshine, and a wedding photo of Popcorn and Pam – lead the way through downtown Parrotsville, TN.
At Parrotsville Elementary School, the memorial flowers were exchanged for Popcorn’s casket, and the procession proceeded by invitation only, for a private service at Sutton’s home and burial at Marvin Sutton Cemetery.
For those in attendance it was definitely Popcorn Sutton’s moment to shine on.