Tom Dutcher, 80

Our husband, father, and friend Tom Dutcher passed away on March 27, 2017, at 80 years of age.

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

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. 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 Associates of Arts 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 11 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 will be a Mass said in his honor at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 1, at Risen Christ Church, 65 W. Evergreen Drive in Kalispell.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in his name to Kalispell Hunter Education, c/o Three Rivers Bank, P.O. Box 7250, Kalispell, MT 59904, or they may be delivered in person to any Three Rivers Bank location.

To send a note of condolence to the family, please visit www.buffalohillfh.com. Buffalo Hill Funeral Home is caring for the family.