Pike Township Family Stories
BILL AND ILA HUTCHINSON
Nichols, Iowa Centennial Book 1884-1984, pages 297-298
By Bill HutchinsonBill Hutchinson and Ila Hutchinson moved to Nichols with their twin daughters, Patricia Hutchinson and Michele Hutchinson, their daughter Denise Hutchinson, and son William Hutchinson. Bill had given up his job at Commercial Solvents corporation in Terra Haute, Indiana, and started working at Grain Processing corporation in Muscatine. While Bill searched for a place to live, Ila and the kids were quarantined in Terra Haute with measles, chicken pox and mumps, one disease following on the heels of another. The former home of Miriam Renshaw and Ike Renshaw proved to be the best place for a large and still growing family.
The years that followed were filled with the hard work of rewiring, replumbing, replastering and refinishing all the oak floors and woodwork, insulating, installing a new heating system, etc. Another son, Joseph Robert Hutchinson, was born here.
Bill was born and raised in Fort Dodge, Iowa. His father was Charles E. Hutchinson, a civil engineer, whose father, Alexander Hutchinson, served in the Civil War. Alexander was the son of Robert J. Hutchison, a master carpenter who moved to Iowa from Ohio and lived previously in New Jersey.
Bill’s mother was Josephine Alma Reed, who was brought up in Vesta, Nebraska, and Blue Rapids, Kansas. Her father and grandfather, Fred Reed and William Thomas Reed, were miners and both of them were killed in mine accidents. William T. Reed was also a Civil War veteran. Josephine’s mother was Mary Frances Reedy, the daughter of Daniel Reedy and America Jones.
Ila was brought up on a farm near Cherokee, Iowa. Her parents were James Archer and Josephine Agnes Eischen. James’ father was George Archer, and his grandfather was William K. Archer, who moved to the United States from Dundee, Scotland, in the early 1840s with his wife, Ann Penn, and settled on a farm near Durand, Illinois.
Ila’s mother was the daughter of Joseph Eischen and the granddaughter of Michael Eischen, both of whom came to the United States from Luxembourg. Josephine Eischen’s mother was Margaret Begler, whose parents were Peter Begler and Margaret Umhoefes, who came to the United States from Germany.
After graduation from high school, Bill attended one year of junior college at Fort Dodge and another year at Iowa State college at Ames. That was followed by over three years in the Army Air Force, where he was trained to be a radio-operator mechanic. One year in the service was spent at the University of Missouri as a member of the Army Star Training Program.
Another year was spent on detached service on the island of Saipan in the Pacific, while his regular outfit was on the island of Guam. While overseas, Bill operated the Voice of America broadcasting station KSAI which broadcast propaganda programs in the Japanese language at night and joined the Armed Forces radio network during the day. Also at the radio station area were the printing presses and facilities where the propaganda leaflets dropped by our planes over Japan were printed and packed into the bombs. Our planes, after dropping their bombs on Japan, used the radio signal from KSAI as a homing signal to get back to the tiny islands.
After discharge from the service, Bill returned to Iowa State college for a final year and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering.
After graduation from high school, Ila went to Fort Dodge where she lived with the girl who is now her sister-in-law. She spent most of her time in Fort Dodge working at the Oleson Drug store, which has now been torn down.
Patricia and Michele Hutchinson, after finishing grade school in Nichols attended Hayes Catholic High school in Muscatine and later transferred to Lone Tree High school. After graduation they both worked at University hospitals in Iowa city until they moved to Kansas City and went to school to become Licensed Practical Nurses.
Patricia Hutchinson became the second wife of James Schmitz, who had three children by his first wife who was an Indian girl. The youngest child, Cheryl Schmitz, drowned in a hole dug in their front yard by the city where they lived. The other children, Chris Schmitz and Lori Schmitz, are in school. James and Patricia have one son, Gregory William Schmitz. They live in Kansas City, Kansas.
Michele Hutchinson married Michael Fricke, and they have a daughter, Kelly Michele. They live in Olathe, Kansas.
Denise Hutchinson graduated from West Liberty High school and from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley, Colorado, with a degree in zoology. She married William Arnold of Brighton, Iowa, but was later divorced. She has been employed by Louis Rich company for some years, but she is moving to the Los Angeles, California, area hoping to further her career and her education.
William Charles Hutchinson lives in West Liberty where he works at Louis Rich. He has never married.
Joseph Hutchinson graduated from high school at Chadron, Nebraska and has attended Community college in Muscatine. He was briefly married to Lynn Job of Nichols. Joe and Cheryl Rogers have a daughter, Amber LeAnn Hutchinson.
The most exciting thing that happened since we moved to Nichols was when Denise climbed a tree in our front yard to peek into a bird’s nest. The limb broke, and she fell, breaking the bones in her right arm both at the wrist and above her elbow where the bone punctured the skin and damaged the blood vessel supplying her arm with blood. She was in Mercy hospital in Iowa City with a possibility of losing her arm when Ila decided the next morning it was time for Joe to be born. Bill spent his vacation shuttling between floors of the hospital watching over everyone.
The biggest change in Nichols has been the loss of the railroad trains. In the old days, trains charging through Nichols with their horns blaring were enough to wake the dead and were sure to ruin a good night’s sleep. Besides the noise, the vibration was enough to jar the houses, crack plaster and loosen leaded joints in plumbing. Even so, with the passing of the trains, something has gone that was at one time the life blood of the small towns.
When we first moved to Nichols, the streets were either mud or raised a dust cloud with every breeze or passing car. At times the streets were sprayed with oil, and that really made a mess tracking into the houses. Thank God for the black topped streets! The roads to Lone Tree and Muscatine were gravel, and the paving we have now is a vast improvement, although we still complain if they get bumpy or have a bad spot in them. We either have poor memories or are an ungrateful bunch.
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Page created December 12, 2010 by Lynn McCleary