Jane Belle Hutchins Obituary

Description: Jane Belle Hutchins Obituary... Our Heartfelt Condolences To Her Loved Ones...

Jane Belle Hutchins

July 18, 1943 — December 4, 2024

La Junta

Obituary

Jane Belle Hutchins entered this world on July 18, 1943, and departed this world December 4, 2024. A daughter of Leon Walter and Carrie Irene (Steinley) Girton, Jane was born in Oxnard, California, but spent her first years in Gage Oklahoma.

Following a story right out of The Grapes of Wrath, her family were the Okies who left Oklahoma seeking a better life in California during the dust bowl. Her dad Leon was able to find work with the Southern Pacific railroad. When Jane was four years old, her father Leon joined the Army; and her mother took her children back to the family farm near Gage, Oklahoma. When she was 10 years old, her father had a heart attack at the early age of 34 years and passed away at the age of 48. After this Jane, her mother Carrie, sister Julianna “Judy,” and two brothers Gary and Larry moved into town.

When she was a freshman in high school she was recruited to Shattuck, Oklahoma, to play on the first women’s basketball team. While there she started the first 4-H program. To support herself, she got a job at Newman Memorial Hospital in Shattuck, Oklahoma, as a nurse’s aid. She would go to basketball practice, take a shower, and then go to work at the hospital from 3-11.

Jane attended Oklahoma State University, in Stillwater Oklahoma, where she graduated with a degree in home economics and teaching. When she graduated, she moved to Colorado in 1965 to take a job with CSU cooperative extension in Bent County. While in Las Animas Jane met and married Donald T. Hutchins. They were married on June 4, 1972. After marriage the couple moved to La Junta and put down their permanent roots. Jane covered several counties as extension home economist, including Bent and Otero. She started several clubs such as Mini4H, which continues on as "Cloverbuds." She worked for all of these counties until her job was abolished in 1985. Then Jane went back to her teaching roots becoming the high school counselor at Cheraw and later taking the counselor job at Walsenburg.

She was always keen to return to the federal extension sector and took many interviews in some unique locations like Bethel, Alaska, where alternate modes of transport meant Dog sled. In 1996 she found a position in Tonopah, Nevada. No dog sled was required, but she had to relocate. Her marriage was strong enough to endure the separation with her flying home once a month and Don traveling out as he could. She was able to retire from extension with a full pension in 1998 and return to La Junta.

After she retired, she participated in and taught exercise in the water classes at the La Junta High School indoor pool. She was an active member of the La Junta Senior center and La Junta TOPs club. She was an active member and officer in NARFE (National Active and Retired Federal Employees). A staunch Democrat, she attended the state conventions of the Democratic Party. She was a long time member of the La Junta United Methodist Church. All this, while being a truly amazing wife and mother. Through her various jobs and services Jane had an immense impact on her community and beyond. She will be missed by all that knew her.

She was preceded in death by her parents Leon Walter and Carrie (Steinley) Girton, her husband Donald T. Hutchins, brother Gary Girton, and sister Julianna Girton Keeble. She is survived by her son Don Hutchins and brother Larry Girton, sisters-in-law Sandi Girton Hunter of Oklahoma, and Dorothy Sanchez of Salida, brother-in-law Frank Hutchins of Dallas City, Illinois, along with many nieces and nephews. She is also survived by close friends Darlene Derbigny and Rosann Inguito both of La Junta.

Funeral services will be Thursday, December 12, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at the United Methodist Church of La Junta with Reverend Lynn Tabb officiating. Interment will follow at the Bent County / Las Animas Cemetery.

Online condolences may be made at www.PeacockFH.com. Peacock-Larsen Funeral Home & Arkansas Valley Crematory is in charge of arrangements.

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