Obituary of Catherine MacClintock Hutchison

Catherine MacClintock Hutchison (Cathy) died at home in Sheffield, Massachusetts on May 29, 2024. She was born in Davenport, New York on October 5, 1933 to Lena Sanford MacClintock and Lloyd F. MacClintock, both of whom predeceased her. She was also predeceased by her brother, Dewey, a Korean War casualty, and her sisters Ramona Hamblin and Dorothy Beer. She is survived by me, Boyd Hutchison, her husband of 59+ years. We were married September 19, 1964 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Before dementia erased her memories, she enjoyed telling me about growing up on her grandparents’ Catskill Mountains Farm, about her Mule Train trip into the Grand Canyon, and her stay at Phantom Ranch. After our marriage we traveled together to many places throughout the US and we frequently played the “Hey, do you remember the night we camped out at Timberline on the Fraser Experimental Forest?” game.

She was happy out-of-doors, so in addition to forays into deserts, forests, and mountains she was an avid gardener of both edibles and flowers. With our peripatetic moves from Arizona to Connecticut to Wisconsin to Tennessee and ultimately to Massachusetts, she and I always had a garden – be it large or small. She was a lover of books and of learning. While we lived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee she took numerous courses at the Roane State Community College and discovered a passion for psychology. She was somewhat less enthusiastic about algebra.

I was transferred from a US Forest Service laboratory in Laramie, Wyoming to the USFS Forest Hydrology Lab in Tempe, Arizona where Cathy was working for a wildlife biologist. We got to know each other a bit at the Lab’s communal coffee breaks and I decided I wanted to know her better. I got tickets for a Phoenix Symphony Orchestra concert and asked her to attend with me. For whatever reason, she agreed, and we enjoyed an amazing concert by the orchestra and the guest artist Benny Goodman (who played one of Louis Spohr’s clarinet concerti). This was the first of many concerts that we attended and she became as addicted to classical music as I was before long. We were not purists, however; our first concert at Tanglewood was to see and hear Peter, Paul & Mary.

Her employment record during our time together is eclectic to say the least; working for a wildlife researcher with the USFS for two geophysicists at Yale while I was in graduate school, and in the US Department of Energy’s Office of Personnel Management in Oak Ridge. Her volunteer work was equally varied; Recording for the Blind in Oak Ridge, the Berkshire Botanical Garden, the Mark Dewey Research Center of the Sheffield Historical Society, and the Bushnell Sage Memorial Library in Sheffield.

She may not be missed by many since quite a few of those who would miss her most are, themselves, now among the missing. Cathy’s life was lived to her standards. She lived it well and I love her for that. Fare thee well, love of my life!

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Cathy’s name to Berkshire Humane Society (214 Barker Rd, Pittsfield, MA 01201) or Bushnell Sage Library (48 Main St, Sheffield, MA 01257). Condolences may be made through birchesroyfuneralservices.com.