Harriet W. Hutchison, 78, of Bar Point Road, Chebeague Island, died unexpectedly Feb. 9 at her home.
She was born in Hartford, Conn., a daughter of Dr. James Elder and Anne Kincaid Hutchison and was a 1936 graduate of the Oxford Girls School. She attended Bryn Mawr College and later graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor of Science in chemistry.
From 1942 until 1945 she worked for a chemical company in Connecticut, but returned to Chicago in 1946, where she pursued post-graduate studies in religion and the classics.
She was employed with the Center for Research Library in Chicago, where she was in charge of foreign dissertations from 1971 until her retirement in 1986. Her interest in classics inspired her to learn several languages, her family said.
Ms. Hutchison spent summers as a child on Chebeague Island, and moved here in 1986. She became very active in many local committees, organizations and charities. She held high offices in the Chebeague Island Library, Island Council and Casco Bay Lines. She was involved with the Chebeague Care Council, the Chebeague Rescue Team, the Chebeague Island Hall Community Center, the Chebeague Island Historical Society, the Chebeague Island Steering Committee and the Cumberland Mainland and Island Trust.
She was a member of the Hurricane Island Institute and Friends of Casco Bay, the Casco Bay Estuary Project and the Chebeague Parents Association.
Surviving are two nieces, Suzanne H. Hurwitz of Falmouth and Anne Silk of Avon, Conn.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Chebeague United Methodist Church, 344 North Road, with the Rev. Robert Leon officiating. Burial will be in the spring in Chebeague Island Cemetery. Arrangements are by Lindquist Funeral Home, Yarmouth.
(reprinted from the Maine Sunday Telegram, March 1, 1998 - with a few corrections)
Harriet worked many years with the Chebeague Island Council. She maintained the Council's Medical Loan Closet for many of those years and she was in charge of bringing the flu shot clinic to the Island each fall. A Memorial Service will be held at the Chebeague Methodist Church on March 4th at 10 am.
Donations may be made in her memory to the Chebeague Care Resource (CCR), the Chebeague Island Rescue, or a charity of the donors choice.