Dorothy Jane Illingworth (Hutcheon)

Dorothy Jane Illingworth (Hutcheon)
1927-2021

Dorothy Jane Illingworth (Hutcheon) passed away on 8/30/2021 at Lynchburg General Hospital in VA with family at her side after a brief illness, just shy of her 94th birthday. 

She was a Life Member of the National Council of State Garden Clubs and loved to tend her many gardens and raise exotic house plants.

She was born in Brooklyn NY to parents Forbes Gerard Hutcheon and Ethel Marie Hutcheon (Stocker).  She was raised in Ridgewood NJ with her sister Ruth(Link), was a 1945 graduate of Ridgewood High School and a 1947 graduate of Green Mountain Junior College. She met the love of her life at a young adult church group and was happily married to Richard Holt Illingworth for 68 years, who predeceased her in 2017.  He was the owner and president of Greenville Finishing Corp., a textile mill in Smithfield RI, where they raised their four children on a 55 acre farm in a pre-Revolutionary War farmhouse -Nancy Robator (David) of Bedford NH,  Susan Thomasy (Steven) of Brockton MA,  Joan Morris (Peter) of Hingham MA and Thomas Illingworth (Karolyn Shaw) of Lynchburg VA. She leaves 13 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.  She was very athletic, teaching her children to swim, ski, ice skate, play tennis, golf and baseball, plus hike the many trails around their RI farm and across America.  She was a Life Member of the National Council of State Garden Clubs and loved to tend her many gardens and raise exotic house plants.  She was very artistic, winning flower arranging contests, knitting, and crafting of all sorts.  She was an avid note writer, keeping in touch with many many friends, neighbors, nieces, nephews, and of course, her family. She was incredibly adept at throwing together dinner parties, holiday meals, cocktail parties, Christmas tree cutting parties at the old farmhouse, all at the drop of a hat, doing all the catering herself. She and Richard traveled extensively in the US and overseas, later becoming summer residents of Nantucket Island MA and winter residents of Longboat Key FL for many years until his passing. She had recently moved to Runk and Pratt Senior Living Community in Lynchburg VA.  She will be interred at George Washington Memorial Park Cemetery in Paramus NJ and a memorial service will follow at a later date.