Janet Hutchison

OBERLIN — Janet Hutchison, 96, passed away Feb. 14, 2014, quietly in her sleep in her home at Kendal at Oberlin, Oberlin, Ohio.

Born Janet Ingersoll Brown in Buffalo, N.Y., to Edward I. and Mary R. Brown, she spent her childhood in Newtown Highlands outside Boston, Mass., with her sisters Cornelia and Virginia. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1938, where she met and married John B. Schwertman. There were three children from this marriage: Gael Schwertman Treesiwin (Addy, Wash.), Amalia Schwertman Hutchison (Carthage, N.C.), and John Schwertman Hutchison (Bethesda, Md.)

Following college, Janet taught at the Sleighton Farms School for Girls near Philadelphia, Pa., before going overseas during World War II. Janet served in the China-Burma-India Theater as a Red Cross worker. She ran two recreation centers on the Ledo Road for GIs. After the war, she and John worked for the American Red Cross in Austria before moving to Chicago, Ill., where John worked at the University of Chicago on adult education programs. Husband John was struck and killed by lightning in 1956 while vacationing in the Indiana Dunes. Janet then moved the family to Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where she was an admissions counselor at Western Reserve College.

She met Bill M. Hutchison at a dance and they then married in 1961. Janet and Bill entered the Kendal community in Oberlin, Ohio, as founding members in 1993. Here she continued working at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where her 22,600 volunteer hours earned her a Presidential Award. She loved the valley and was proud of her role in establishing the park and chronicling its early history. While in Oberlin she was active in the Oberlin College Alumni Association, the Musical Union and the Oberlin Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

Janet was an energetic soul all her life, determined and courageous, a quiet pioneer in advancing women's roles in society. She was well loved and served as an inspiration to many. She will be missed and remembered.

A memorial service will be held at Kendal at Oberlin at a future date. Interment will be private. Arrangements by Dicken Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Elyria. For online condolences, visit www.dickenfuneralhome.com.