08/11/2026
John Ben Sutter
John Ben Sutter succumbed to complications from Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia August 10, 2026 at home in Rayville, Richland Parish, Louisiana. He was 73. He is survived by his wife, J-Ramsey Sutter and her widowed mother, Hilda Crawford Ramsey. J-Ramsey is the daughter of Hilda Gay Crawford and John Douglas “Zeke” Ramsey and granddaughter of Henry Washington and Beatrice Weston Crawford and Grant and Thema Bennet Ramsey
John Ben Sutter was born in 1953 in Cameron, Texas to Cornelius John and Nellie Imogene Williams Cox Sutter. Because his father owned and operated the Dairy King restaurant his mother worked as a nurse, John Ben was raised by his paternal grandparents, Herman and Josephine Hollis Sutter. John Ben was a friendly but lonely boy attending St. Monica’s grade school and graduating from Yoe High School. He participated in UIL drama and band competitions. He was a student leader, active in various school and church organizations. His interest in politics was cultivated by the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict. He was a voracious reader, keeping irregular hours, largely unsupervised, and listening to all night radio stations.
John Ben left Cameron in 1971 for Baylor University where he excelled as president of the Baylor University Golden Wave Marching Band and reporting for the Baylor Lariat the university’s newspaper. He worked at KCEN-TV as a weekend weatherman and reporter. Upon graduation, he worked in government and politics for Congressman W. R. “Bob” Poage in the district and in Washington, D.C. He worked first as a doorman in the U.S. House of Representatives meeting reporters Larry L. King, Linda Ellerbee, and Congressman Jim Mattox. He soon became Mr. Poage’s press secretary and campaign reelection strategist. When Mr. Poage retired, John Ben worked for Lyndon Olson, congressional candidate Mike Andrews, McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell, and Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox. John Ben participated in many Waco and McLennan County activities such as portraying Big Daddy in the Waco Civic Theater production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Mathew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind. John Ben marched in the Baylor alumni band, was a guest on area television news broadcasts, and enjoyed campaigning for McLennan County Judge. He was so grateful for every vote in the Democratic Primary in 1986.
Feazell, Sutter, and reporter Hugh Aynesworth had discovered that Henry Lee Lucas was not a serial killer. John Ben wrote 60 Minutes with their findings and concerns. The television news magazine responded with an investigative televised report. The Texas Attorney General’s Office reported that Lucas did not kill hundreds of people as the Texas Rangers and FBI said. Feazell, Sutter, and several Waco attorney’s were investigated by the Texas Rangers and FBI. Feazell was indicted by the U.S. Attorney and ultimately acquitted. Feazell, Sutter, and others named in an 11 part news series sued WFAA-TV News for libel surrounding the baseless federal racketeering allegations, While Sutter reached an out of court settlement, Feazell was awarded $58 million, the highest jury award in a libel trial in American jurisprudential history at that time.
John Ben ran for McLennan County Judge and almost secured his party’s nomination in the 1986 Democratic Primary but lost the run off election after being subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating then McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell. Once the news of the grand jury subpoena made the media, the subpoena was quashed and Sutter never testified before the federal grand jury, nor was he called as a witness in Feazell’s subsequent RICO federal trial. But the damage was done and John Ben lost his election. John Ben Sutter successfully managed Feazell’s 1986 reelection campaign. While indictments usually end political careers, Sutter got Feazell reelected. Feazell resigned two years later and John Ben went to work for Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox as director of special projects.
John Ben was then accepted into the graduate program at the University of Texas in political science. Bored with the graduate program, John Ben graduated from South Texas College of Law in 1995, twenty years after he earned his undergraduate degree in communication and political science from Baylor University. John Ben was an outstanding participant in mock trial and moot court during law school. His Master’s Thesis, regarded as one of the finest produced in the political science department at Baylor University, concerned the advisory relationship between President Lyndon Johnson and Supreme Court Associate Justice Abe Fortas. It remains a reference for both Johnson and Fortas scholars. John Ben taught college classes, first at Austin Community College and later full time while attending South Texas College of Law. He first joined the full time faculty at Wharton County Junior College teaching there for five years and then as a professor at Houston City College where he taught for twenty-three years. Upon retirement, John Ben was honored by the Texas Senate for his contribution to state politics and educating thousands of government and political science students in Texas community colleges. His classes were consistently full and popular. He was demanding however his students often commented that he was their most memorable professor.
John Ben was a strong believer in community and civic engagement. He was a past president of the Waco R**e Crisis Center Board of Directors, a member of the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, Corrections Concepts Institute Board of Directors, Heart of Texas March of Dimes Board, Heart of Texas Goodwill Board, McLennan County Peace Officers Association, National District Attorney’s Association, American Society of Public Administrators, Waco Ad Club, Advisor to the East Waco Neighborhood Association. He was honored in 1977 by the Outstanding Young Men of America, recognized by Who’s Who in the South and Southwest in 1988, Who’s Who of Young American Professionals in 1992, Who’s Who of Emerging Young Professionals in 1992. He was a member of the American Political Science Association, Center for the Study of the Presidency, Houston Democratic Forum, South Texas Civil Liberties Association, American Trial Lawyers Association and the American Bar Association Student Division, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Fort Bend County Alternative Dispute Resolution Center mediation volunteer, Texas Association of Mediators, Texas Community College Association.
Diagnosed with AFIB, Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, John Ben retired in 2023 and left Texas. He moved to his in-law’s hometown of Rayville, Louisiana in 2024 when his wife, J-Ramsey, retired from Houston City College. John Ben and his wife met at Baylor University in Waco in 1985. John Ben was auditing Mike Mansfield’s class on political polling and J-Ramsey was earning her Master’s degree in political science. He told her on their first date they would spend the rest of their lives together. J-Ramsey, a 2004 graduate of South Texas College of Law and a 1984 and 1988 graduate of Baylor University was a government and political science professor. She considers her greatest responsibility being John Ben’s caregiver. He gave her a tremendous adventure and a wonderful home.
John Ben loved ideas, books, fountain pens, old typewriters, dogs and cats, music and motion pictures. Robert Preston’s Harold Hill from The Music Man was his role model. He never met a stranger. He believed in kindness and acceptance. He knew loneliness and believed no one should feel rejection. He died surrounded by what he loved—his books, his music, and his wife. He lived with dignity, integrity, loyalty, and intelligence.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a financial contribution to your local animal rescues, Baylor University or South Texas College of Law, Scottish Rite for Children, St Jude’s Hospital, or the Democratic Party.
J-Ramsey Sutter and Hilda Crawford Ramsey would like to thank Crossroads Hospice, the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Department, Brown-Holley Funeral Home, Dr. Corey Albritton and his outstanding medical team, The Delhi Hospital for their wonderful hospital staff and nurses, the brilliant wound care team, the loving outpatient infusion team for their dedication and professionalism, Dr. Gregory Sampognaro and his tremendous medical team and Dr. Harika Medi, Dr. Sherman Tang, and Dr. Mario Dulay of Houston Methodist Hospital.
