Dwight Eugene Sumner -- Real Estate Broker and Author

 

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Dwight Eugene Sumner

Dwight Eugene Sumner was born on May 26, 1931 in Alton, Illinois, the second of three children born to William Lloyd Sumner and Sarah Elizabeth Thomas Sumner.  William and Sarah were both natives of Trigg County, Kentucky and had moved to Alton, Illinois in 1927 where William worked for the Owens Glass Company and Sarah worked as a self-employed interior decorator.  Dwight was a descendant of Perry Thomas.

Dwight’s two siblings were Howell Lloyd Sumner born in 1927 and married Rita Marie Rielley and later married Beverly Jane Lynch Adams and Dorothy Jean Sumner, born in 1933 and married Donald Roy Koppenhaver.

Dwight or “Doggie” as he was known, grew up in Alton and graduated from Alton High School and then went on to graduate from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois.  Following his higher education, he served with the U.S. Air Force. As a youth he worked in the glass company along with his father but later began a career as a real estate broker.

Dwight also had an interest in writing and in county music.  He self-published a book that he wrote called Makin It To Nashville.  The book was written out of his curiosity of how some county music entertainers were successful while others were not.  He discovered that family beginnings, musical exposure and persistence all played a part in an entertainer’s success.  The main ingredient all entertainers possess was their talent.  He related 25 individual stories and followed them to their success or failure to succeed.  Unfortunately, the book is no longer available for purchase.

On April 9, 1966, Dwight married Reba Marie Householder Tuetken at the Ogden Memorial Methodist Church in Princeton, Kentucky with Dwight’s uncle, the Rev. B. C. Thomas officiating.  Dwight and Reba had one child, a son, Dwight David Sumner, born in 1969.  Reba and Dwight were subsequently divorced.

Dwight David Sumner, Dwight and Reba’s only child was tragically killed on October 6, 1990.  On the evening of October 5, Dwight David, age 21, was in the parking lot of a bicycle trail in Alton when he was involved with an altercation with several other juveniles on the trail. One of the juveniles pulled out a large lock blade pocket knife and when he slashed upward wildly, he cut open Sumner’s abdomen and the knife punctured his heart. He was taken to the St. Anthony’s Hospital in Alton where he died at 12:40 a.m. the next morning.  The 17-year-old youth who was wielding the knife was subsequently arrested and convicted of first-degree murder for the killing.  Dwight David was buried in the Valhalla Memorial Park in Godfred, Illinois.

Dwight Eugene Sumner died at the age of 79 on October 1, 2010 in a nursing home in Alton. He was cremated.

David Sumner, son of Dwight

 

 Cover of Dwight's book

LINEAGE: (Dwight Eugene Sumner was the son of William Lloyd and Sarah Elizabeth Thomas Sumner. And the grandson of John Quincy and Catherine M. Bruff Thomas.  John Quincy was the sixth child of Allison W. and Catherine Elizabeth Carloss Thomas.  Allison was the third child of Perry and Elizabeth Josephine Bridges Thomas.  Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)