He didn’t come for applause.
He didn’t come with camera crew in tow or check presentation backdrop. He didn’t even hand out a carefully worded press release.
Marvin Sutton walked into James Bowie High School with a quiet smile and $500 worth of Kroger gift cards meant for the people who keep a school running when the lights are on and when they aren’t — the staff who show up early, stay late, and often give far more than they get back.
Bowie was just one stop.
That’s the thing about real generosity: it doesn’t make a big show of itself.
The retired Arlington City Council member and his wife, Raquel, have made this a tradition. Every year, around this time, they crisscross Arlington and Mansfield, visiting campuses that don’t always make headlines but always have needs. Title I schools. Neighborhood schools. Schools where families stretch dollars, where teachers quietly keep snacks in their drawers, where counselors know which kids are worried about dinner more than homework.
“We donate $500 mostly at Title One schools,” Sutton said, matter-of-factly, as if this were the most natural thing in the world. “We started this morning at Seguin, went to Fitzgerald, Barnett, and then here. Tomorrow we have Goodman and Sam Houston, then Barnett and Timberview.”
It rolls off his tongue like a grocery list. No drama. No self-congratulation. Just purpose.
They’ve been doing this for years. COVID interrupted the rhythm, as it did for so much of life, but the intention never left.
For Sutton, service didn’t start in retirement — it just changed attire. Long before gift cards and school visits, Sutton spent 38 years as an air traffic controller, a job built on the understanding that what you do matters to people you may never meet. He retired in 2018, and instead of slowing down, he looked around and asked the question that defines the second half of a meaningful life: What now?
The University of Texas at Arlington grad served District 3 on the city council from 2018 to 2021.
“As I approached retirement, I had the idea to give back more than what we were already doing,” said the University of Texas at Arlington grad who served on the city council from 2018 to 2021.
Not someday. Not when it’s convenient. Now.
Since then, the list of schools has grown: Sam Houston, Seguin, Bowie, and Timberview. Barnett and Goodman junior highs. Fitzgerald and Bryant elementaries. Different campuses, same philosophy.
And there’s thought behind even the smallest details.
They give Kroger gift cards on purpose.
“There are two purposes,” Sutton explained. “One is to patronize a store in the community, and the other is to provide students with access to food. The store benefits because revenue goes up, and the need is taken care of here as well. We’re taking money and reinvesting it in the local community.”
It’s generosity with roots.
But Sutton’s connection to Bowie runs deeper than a seasonal visit.
Years ago, when Bowie was working to reshape its culture, Sutton helped launch what became known as Bowie Give Back Day. At the time, he and school leaders such as Dr. Keith Johnson wanted to flip the narrative — to make recognition louder than discipline, to spotlight respect instead of mistakes.
A city proclamation followed, officially recognizing the effort. That proclamation still hangs inside Bowie — not as a trophy, but as a reminder of what happens when a community decides to see its students for who they can be, not just what they do wrong.
Sutton has been around long enough to know that when you take care of the people who take care of kids, you’re investing in far more than groceries.
Ask him why he does it, and you won’t get a long speech. You’ll get something simpler. Truer.
“My belief is, you can’t take it with you,” he said while heading toward the door to drop another gift. “The only thing you take with you when you leave this world is memories. All the stuff stays.”
Kenneth Perkins has been a contributing writer for Arlington Today for more than a decade. He is a freelance writer, editor and photographer, and teaches Journalism and Writing at Bowie High School.
Ronnisha and Leslie Dukes of The Pastrami Shop at Downtown Arlington Farmers Market
