Dates

• Existence: 1926 - 2012

Biography

Born in Denver, Colorado on July 11, 1926 and known as “Dean” as a youth, Dick Hutchins lived in Oberlin, Kansas and graduated from Decatur Community High School in 1944. He served in the Air Force and received musical training at the Kansas City University Conservatory of Music. He played with big bands, including one of his own, and was a member of the Kansas City Musicians’ Association. Dick worked briefly for the Boeing Company, a maker of aircraft, in Wichita, Kansas where he met his wife M. Elaine (Latimer) of Ottawa, Kansas. They married in 1950. Dick also became a member of the Sunflower Lodge of Freemasons of Kansas in Wichita.

Dick began his twenty seven year career in transportation with Transcon, a freight trucking company, in February of 1953 as a rate clerk. With one daughter, Dick and Elaine moved to Oklahoma City in 1954 where Dick was the office supervisor for four years and two sons were added to the family. Dick was then transferred to Amarillo, Texas in 1958 where he was the terminal manager. Another son was born and the family moved to Southern California in 1963 when Dick was again transferred. He lived in Fullerton from 1964 until his death. He moved quickly up the ladder at the corporate headquarters in Los Angeles and served in the following capacities:

• superintendent of terminal operations – to 1965 • assistant to the vice president of operations – to 1967 • chief of office operations – to 1969 • superintendent of pick-up and delivery operations – to 1970 • special assistant to the vice president of terminals – to early 1972 • terminal manager of Transcon’s largest and new facility – to early 1974 • director of fuel planning and procurement – to 1975 • administrative assistant to the vice president of terminals – to 1977 • director of fuel planning and procurement – to 1980

Work in transportation continued when Dick worked for or helped start other transportation companies, including Lee Way Motor Freight until 1982, U.S. Distributors until 1983, and Ligon Nationwide, until 1985. He was self-employed and became a real estate agent in Northern Orange County with Realty World for a number of years.

After retirement, the focus was again on transportation when Dick became the transportation editor and writer on transportation topics for the Fullerton Observer newspaper. A local radio station once noted that he was Orange County’s only transportation columnist. In September of 2006, a comment appeared on the LA Observed website, stating: "Amazing that, while Southern California is the capital of traffic as a topic of conversation, the only columnist on the subject is Dick Hutchins. His Transit Topics appears in the Fullerton Observer, a free community newspaper. The Orange County Register has Honk, a column that answers transportation questions. Meanwhile, the L.A. Times has at best spotty coverage of transportation." His publisher said of Dick that he was modest, very knowledgeable, and much of what he wrote about was way before its time. Dick continued writing about transportation until 2006.

Dick was a life-long fan of railroads starting when his father was an agent and telegraph operator for the Rock Island Railroad in Colorado and Kansas. His passion for railroads led Dick to become a model train enthusiast. He maintained a large model collection and, in his final years, enjoyed a large layout in his garage. Of course, he primarily modeled the Rock Island Railroad. He was a member of the National Model Railroad Association and a member of other model railroad clubs and associations. Dick also joined many railroad associations and historical societies but he became deeply involved with the Rock Island Technical Society (RITS), an organization dedicated to preserving information about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. He became a member around the time RITS began in 1974 and was a director for many years. He was also chairman of the publications committee for several years. Several of Dick’s articles and photographs appeared in RITS publications.

Camping, playing bridge, and being with friends and family were also important to Dick. He was especially fond of his eight grandchildren who knew him as “Grandad.” They were a favorite subject of his as the family photographer. Dick and Elaine also traveled widely across the country and to such locations as Mexico, Japan, Europe, and Alaska. Of course, any time he could, Dick would visit, explore, and photograph locations, train equipment, and museums of old and current railroads. Dick also enjoyed listening to jazz.

Dick was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Fullerton for 48 years where he served on various committees and sang in the choir. All of his children grew up in the church and three of four were married in the church.

Hutchins passed away in his sleep on February 21, 2012. He was predeceased by his wife, Elaine, in 2006, and much earlier by his parents Anderson S. and Julia (Lee) Hutchins of Dresden, Kansas, and his sisters Wanda Carter and Betty Canaga and their spouses. He is survived by his four children and their spouses: Diann and Tom Kozlowski of Yorba Linda; Brian and Hope Hutchins of Carson City, Nevada; Rick and Kathy Hutchins of Fullerton; and Lee and Karen Hutchins of Smith Valley, Nevada. There are also eight grandchildren in order of age: Corey, Alisha, Christine, Courtney, Kalee, Brooks, Ty, Meredith.

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