Raymond Hutchison Obituary

Raymond Edward Hutchison was born on September 3, 1940, and passed away in Anchorage, Alaska on August 3, 2025, at the age of 84. He was a long-time Alaskan, moving to Anchorage in 1961. Except for a brief time out of state in Colorado, he lived in Alaska for the remainder of his life.

A Celebration of Life will be held on September 6, 2025, from 1:00-3:00 P.M. at the Borealis Meeting Room, Crowne Plaza Hotel in Anchorage. (109 W. International Airport Road.)

Ray was the eldest son of the late Edward B. Hutchison and Cora Lee (Harrington) of Eagle River, Alaska, and was also preceded to eternity by his sister Joyce Daniel of California. Ray's parents played music wherever they lived, and their band (The Country Rhythm-Aires) performed often in Anchorage and Eagle River in the 1960s, with Ray happily cheering them on.

Ray is survived by his brother Charles Hutchison of Florida, Linda Vitale of California, Shirley Uptegraft of Glennallen, and Tammy Griffin of Anchorage. He is also survived by close friends and neighbors along with a host of nieces, nephews, friends, other loved ones, former co-workers, and customers from his many years in the auto service business in Anchorage.

Ray Hutchison was born in a small log cabin in rural Hickman County, Tennessee. As a young child he lived on the grandparents' rural farms in Bells Branch and Hayley's Creek near Centerville. He tells at age 6 he already had his first job. He carried and dumped small buckets of dried corn kernels into his grandfather's grist mill and then watched to make sure the corn got ground into meal. All the while he had to stay nimble and sharp to avoid the old cranky mule's feet. The family later lived in Nashville and then Bon Aqua until 1952 when they left Tennessee for California after his father enlisted in the Air Force. From that time the family lived in a variety of places depending on where the military stationed his father. During the mid-1950's Ray lived in England, where he attended high school at the American Central School in London. During his time in England an enterprising young Ray would bike twenty miles roundtrip to work at the Air Force base commissary as a bag boy – for tips, and at that time a nickel was perfect. When the family returned to the States, they lived in Riverside, California where Ray found work at a gas station. Soon thereafter his father transferred to Travis AFB in northern California and the family moved to a rural ranch near Rio Vista.

Ray was an ardent car-guy from an early age and as a teen restored and drove a 1949 Ford, deep blue with white leather seats and recessed door handles. Decades later his sister Joyce found Ray's same car, just as pristine, proudly owned by an avid car collector in Stockton, California.In 1959 the Air Force transferred Ray's father to Elmendorf AFB and the family moved to Anchorage. Ray was finishing high school and instead of Alaska, he joined the Air Force following in his father's footsteps. He went to Air Communications Service School in Texas and became a tele-typist, and then served in Labrador, Canada.

After getting out of the Air Force he joined his family in Alaska where they lived in Mt. View, and later Eagle River and Wasilla. In 1964 Ray worked as a mechanic in Anchorage, but on Friday, March 27 he was helping his mother in Eagle River when the Great Earthquake struck. While the ground still rolled and the house shook, Ray got the youngest sisters (age 4 and 6) and led the way for his brother and another sister to safety in the yard. When the quaking stopped, he ran back to rescue his mother still trapped inside. His father was at work that day, but lucky for the family Ray was there to help.

Ray loved cars and fine-tuned his mechanic skills, going on to a successful 50-year career as a Service Manager, working in every car dealership in Anchorage. He laughed as he relayed a story about one customer who was on a drive-trip out of state and had car trouble. The customer would not trust anyone except Ray so called him personally to ask for help. Ray got on the phone with a Ford dealership near where the stranded customer was and arranged for the needed car repairs. Soon his customer was on the way back to Alaska. A true service manager at work.

In addition to being a car-guy, Ray was also a Softball coach in Anchorage and Eagle River starting in 1969, with two of his younger sisters, Shirley and Tammy, on his team. He was a doubly proud brother when his sisters later played on the State Championship team in 1974, going on to compete in the regionals that year in Texas.

Ray was never afraid to speak against injustice. Beginning in 1976 Alaska paid qualified residents an annual dividend from the state oil revenues. But in 1992, Alaska military serving away from home in the Gulf War found out on returning they were not eligible for the state's Permanent Fund Dividend due to non-residence. A local television news program featured Ray saying what a shame it was that active deployed military would not receive the dividend checks that year. Ray's voice was one of many who helped make a policy change so military personnel would not lose their residency due to deployment. One of those 1992 dividend checks went to his younger brother Charlie, an Alaskan returning home from the Gulf War.

Ray's enduring spirit, his love of Alaska, his love of vintage cars, his love of family and friends, will be missed. We love you Ray, rest in peace.