Gladys Bethany Horton Hutchinson, 99, passed peacefully into the arms of The Lord on Thursday, September 21, 2017. Gladys last resided at Creekside Manor in Jerome, Idaho.

Gladys was born on April 10, 1918, the second daughter to Claude Burton Horton and Hattie Belle Horton, in Lester, West Virginia. She attended Trap Hill High School in Surveyor, West Virginia. In addition to attending school, Gladys worked in her Mother’s store/restaurant. She married Seth Andrew Hutchinson in Lester on October 27, 1934 and they were married for 61 years until death took Seth in 1996.

Gladys may have been short in stature but she was tall in determination. In the early 1940s she wanted to move from West Virginia to California to join her married sister Mabel Horton Fitts in Los Angeles. Seth was somewhat reluctant to make the move, so every day when he went to work she sold off one piece of furniture until one day when Seth came home from work and seeing no furniture in the house said, “Well, it looks like we are moving to California!”

In Los Angeles, Gladys worked for the Standard Oil Company and she and Seth lived in the Edgerly Apartments on Hope Street, moving into a small house on Catalina Street following the birth of their first child Jeff. In 1950, Seth and Gladys purchased their first home in what is now Pico Rivera (then an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County just called Rivera) where their second child Claudia was born. She also lived in other areas of California: Downey, Orangevale and Hemet. Following the death of her husband Seth, she moved in with her daughter Claudia in Flagstaff, Arizona and finally moved with the family to Jerome, Idaho in 2006.

Gladys is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Colonel Jeff and Linda Hutchinson of Buckeye, Arizona; daughter and son-in-law, Claudia Hutchinson Dethlefs and Darrell Dethlefs of Custer, South Dakota; grandchildren Amy Hutchinson Clark, Andrew Dethlefs, Wendy Dethlefs Drew and Katie Dethlefs; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Gladys was preceded in death by her parents, Claude and Hattie Horton; sisters Lucy Horton Canady, Mabel Horton Fitts and Annetta “Jimmy” Horton Cook; husband Seth Hutchinson and granddaughter Polly Hutchinson Brinkley.

A family grave-side service at Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier, California will be presided over by her nephew, the Reverend Michael Fitts where she will be laid to rest beside her husband. Always with a love of family, Gladys has requested that the song, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” be played at the service.


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Below are links to Gladys records at the West Virginia Archives:

Birth Record

Marriage Record