Edna Hulett Dutton 1888-1991

DUTTON HULETT

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 11/6/2012 at 14:15:25

Edna Hulett Dutton, 103, Countryside Retirement Home, died Wednesday, March 27, 1991, at the home.

Memorial services will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Morningside Presbyterian Church, followed by graveside services at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in Graceland Park Cemetery, with the Rev. Arthur K. Beumler officiating. Berkemier Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Mrs. Dutton was born Feb. 4, 1888, daughter of Charles and Dora Hulett, Pomeroy, Iowa. She moved to Sioux City after graduating from high school and attended Teacher's College. She lived in the home of the Rev. R. Clifford Cully of Morningside Presbyterian Church. After graduating from Iowa State Teacher's College at Cedar Falls, she taught grade school in Pipestone, Minn., and at Longfellow School in Sioux City.

She married Winfred A. Dutton, a Sioux City attorney, June 28, 1911. Their honeymoon trip took them west by horse and buggy and train, presenting motion picture shows in small towns and lumber and mining camps. She was a musician, playing piano in the Dutton Family Orchestra various functions around Iowa. She later took up son John's instrument, the marimba, and learned to play vibes.

During World War II she helped entertain the troops at the Sioux City Airbase. She continued performing at church and other local functions until she was in her 80s. She and her husband donated the Auditorium Fountain in April 1965, as a memorial to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Dutton, who came to Sioux City in 1888.

She helped her husband write "We Climbed the Hill Together," the story of their lives from the early 1900s to the mid-1970s. He died Jan. 10, 1981.

She had been a member of Morningside Presbyterian Church since 1906. Some of her activities were teaching Sunday school, directing the Christian Education Program, and serving as the first female elder. She belonged to the Riparian Study Club and Church Women United. She was active in the Salvation Army Auxiliary, the League of Women Voters and the Sioux City Garden Club. She supported the United Nations. She was elected Sioux City Woman of the Year by the Agora Club in 1957 for her outstanding community service.

Survivors include a daughter, Margaret, of San Francisco; a son, James, of Chicago; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a son, Eugene, a daughter, Pauline, and a grandson, Jon.

Memorial funds have been established for Morningside Presbyterian Church and for a scholarship fund in her name at Birch Creek Music Center, Egg Harbor, Wis.