Bellingham Friends Meeting has missed the presence of Steve Hutchens since he passed in February of this year. He was dedicated to his work with the Social and Environmental Action Committee and will be remembered for his contagious laugh and frequent smile. Steve often expressed a deep concern for the state of the environment and of our Society.
Stephen Hutchens, a regular attender at Bellingham friends meeting, died of brain cancer on February 2, 2022. Steve began attending meeting in 2010 and he served on the finance committee and was the Meeting’s Treasurer for a short time.
He later left Meeting to explore the faith of his upbringing; Methodist and Disciples of Christ. Those explorations brought him back to Friends in the spring of 2020 just as Covid precautions closed in-person gatherings.
In the summer of 2020, he worked with other Friends to organize a large zoom gathering exploring racism in Bellingham and Whatcom County. He also became a member of Social and Environmental Action Committee. Steve stepped up to help individual Friends when they were in need. Steve spoke often of his Quaker ancestors from colonial times in Maryland, Tennessee and the southeast United States.
Steve wanted to pursue membership with Bellingham Friends, but his illness took him too soon.
Stephen Parker Hutchins was born in Monett, Missouri on August 5, 1942. His mother was Henrietta Binion and his father, Vern Hutchins. He attended the University of Arkansas receiving a BA and later a PhD. For seventeen years, Steve taught business and communications at Creighton University, in Omaha Nebraska. After coming to Bellingham, he taught, part time at Western Washington University. He has two children and six grandchildren. He married Celia Obrecht in 1999.