Elizabeth S. "Beth" Hutchins

Elizabeth Suzanne Hutchins, 43, of Kalamazoo, made her transition out of this life on Monday, June 3rd, at the Meijer Heart Center in Grand Rapids, where she had been receiving treatment for congestive heart failure. She is survived by her parents, Charles F. and Brenda E. (Davis) Hutchins of Battle Creek, her brothers Charles ("Tad") of Grand Rapids and John (wife Melissa, daughters Ashlynn and Katelin) of Battle Creek, her grandmother Beverly (Stebleton) Riskey of Battle Creek, many loving aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, and her cat, Frazer.

Beth was born in Battle Creek on April 30th, 1970, and grew up just half a mile from Beadle Lake Elementary School on C. Drive North. She attended Beadle Lake with her brother Tad, where she learned to play the violin, and graduated from Harper Creek High School, where her father taught science and math, and where she became involved in drama and sang the starring role in the school musical her Junior year.

After graduating from high school, Beth briefly attended Kellogg Community College, just long enough to star in a production of KISMET there. She met a friend (Charlie King) in the cast of KISMET who helped her get a job as a counselor at a summer camp for children with special needs, and that experience is part of what led to her establishing herself in Kalamazoo, where she worked in direct care at Lakeside for Children care facility for approximately twelve years. During that time, and later after she left Lakeside and worked as an accounts representative for the Kalamazoo Valley Plant Co-op, she earned two associate's degrees from Kalamazoo Valley Community College, in art and commercial art.

Beth displayed a passion for art from an early age. She loved bright colors, sharp contrasts, and abstract patterns, and identified Vincent Van Gogh and Gustav Klimt as influences in her early work. Several of her paintings placed or received honorable mention in art competitions that she entered in Kalamazoo. She did paintings on commission as well as for art shows, and also crafted beautiful jewelry, making scores of necklaces, bracelets and rings which she sold at craft fairs and online, and gave as gifts to friends and relatives. There may not be a friend or relative of Beth who does not own at least one unique piece that she made.
Beth loved art, music, books, drama, pets, and the whole of the outdoors. She hiked the Kellogg Forest every year on her birthday, and when her medical condition decreased her mobility, she took frequent drives to the beach in South Haven to watch the sunset. Many pictures that she took of sunsets in South Haven can be found on her page on Facebook.

Beth was a highly spiritual person. Beauty resonated deeply with her, and she was always attracted to the "hidden" traditional meanings of beautiful things, like the precious stones from which she made her jewelry, and the flowers that she sold at the plant co-op; but she was also deeply devoted to her church. In recent years, she adopted the Oshtemo United Methodist Church as her home, and took it upon herself to become a lay minister there. She gave sermons and sermonettes when the regular ministers needed a break, and gave her time to several of the committees, where her unique ability to blend listening compassionately with speaking forthrightly must certainly have been felt.

Beth had a heart condition which certainly had been developing for years, but which was not detected until a follow-up visit to her doctor after a surgery to remove her parathyroid gland in early 2012. She was at the Meijer Heart Center receiving treatment and exploring more radical options for recuperative therapy when her condition suddenly took a turn for the worse.

A memorial service for Beth will be held at her church on Monday, June 10th, at 11:00 a.m.: Oshtemo United Methodist Church, 6574 Stadium Drive, Oshtemo, MI 49077 (http://www.oshtemoumc.org/). An informal reception and an opportunity to visit with the family will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the church, to the ASPCA, or to the Kalamazoo Humane Society.