Tom Dutcher, 80

Published 7:01 am Sunday, April 9, 2017

Tom Dutcher, 80, of Kalispell, Montana, and formerly of Austin, Minnesota, passed away on March 27, 2017.

He was born in 1937, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and adopted at age 2 by Catherine and Harry Dutcher of Austin. He grew up in “Hormel Town” and was quite the man about town, becoming senior class president of Pacelli High School.

Dutcher

He served in the Army Signal Corps in New Jersey during the Korean War and later spent several years in the U.S. Diplomatic Service working in Algiers. There he met and married Carolyn Pink and had three children: Debra, Paul and Janice. They later divorced.

He came back to the U.S. and started working in the turkey industry, rising to national sales manager of Norbest, Inc., in Salt Lake City, Utah. He met and later married his wife of 28 years, Jill Levinson, during that time. Their daughter Kate was born, and, with Jill’s daughter Julie, the family moved to the Kalispell area in 1994 to escape big city life.

Tom became active as a trustee in the Marion Fire Department and also the Hunter’s Education Program. At the age of 70, he graduated with his associate’s degree from Flathead Valley Community College, receiving his Bench Jeweler’s certificate. He loved his log home, his neighbors, and especially his donkeys, and his Maine Coon cat, Oakley.

Tom will be sorely missed by his wife, Jill; his brother, Dan (Dot) Dutcher of St. Francis, Minnesota; his children, Debra Coffey, Paul Dutcher, Janice (Jeff) Beckstrom, Kate Dutcher and Julie (Dan) Diaz; as well as 12 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and a host of wonderful friends.

Our thanks are with Home Options Hospice for the wonderful care Tom received in his final months.

There was a Mass said in his honor at Risen Christ Church, 65 W. Evergreen Dr., in Kalispell on Saturday, April 1.

Memorials can be sent to Kalispell Hunter Education, c/o Three Rivers Bank, P.O. Box 7250, Kalispell, MT 59904.