This year’s 10K dedicated to Skip Tuttle: A unique man of caring and courage

When participants gather at the starting line for the Shelter Island 10K Run/5K Run/Walk Saturday, they will pause to honor Clifford William “Skip” Tuttle, to whom the 47th annual race is dedicated.

The choice for the planners of this year’s event was a natural for a man who dedicated so much of his life to the community he loved, said his cousin, Cliff Clark, who was one of the leaders who organized the first event. Mr. Tuttle was one of the first people to volunteer, Mr. Clark said.

“He was one of my heroes,” he said of his cousin, who was seven years older. “He attended my Little League games and modeled an incredibly powerful work ethic in everything he did, whether in sports as the Suffolk County basketball scoring champion, or on the job at his father’s marina,” Mr. Clark said.

When the two returned to the Island as young adults, Mr. Tuttle “modeled a powerful community spirit not just through his words, but through his daily actions of helping wherever there was there was a need,” Mr. Clark said. “People like Skip leave a lasting legacy through the lives they touch. He touched mine early on. I’m in debt to him for that.”

When Mr. Tuttle died in August 2025, among those who paid tribute to him at his funeral was former Town Councilman Ed Brown, who described him as “a special friend who touched the hearts of an awful lot of people. He was known for his caring and generosity. He helped and looked after a lot of people in the community and there was never any strings attached.”

Mr. Tuttle served the Shelter Island Fire Department for 50 years. A Marine Corps veteran, he was an active member of the American Legion Mitchell Post 281. Following his military service, he returned to the Island and learned various trades and skills before the sea beckoned and he took over his father’s Smith Cove fishing and rowboat business that became the Shelter Island Marina and Fishing Station. And on the first day of every scallop season, he was always one of the first to be back on the water.

A “Teacher Without Chalk” is a poem written by a young friend as a tribute:

His silent actions

Emulate more respect

Towards the symbol of freedom

Than words ever will

He teaches without chalk

His love,

Respect,

Attitude

Toward that water

Inspired, taught me

To be grateful as well

The last of a kind

A dying breed

His old fashioned morals, values

Begin to flourish in me

As I take on a new shape

Once again