JOHN WESLEY HUTSELL, III – Died December 15, 2014 at the age of 71. Born July 3, 1943, he was the son of John Wesley Hutsell, Jr. and Edith Bernice Franzen. Served his country for 20 years in the United States Military including two tours of duty in Germany. Survived by Deborah Glisson, Scott Hutsell, Melanie Hutsell and six grandchildren.
No service will be held; in accordance with his wishes his ashes will be spread in Lake Michigan in the spring.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’m out running errands on Monday the 15h; I’m inside Meijer getting a few groceries, and Meijer is a black hole of cell coverage. I’m not in there long, but, when I walk out, I see I have a call and a voice mail from a 412 area code number. This is ominous; about a month previous I had received a call from a strange 724 area code number…turns out it was a friend who had just moved to Pittsburgh from Michigan and I told him that “strange calls from Pittsburgh area codes probably mean bad news”.
And so it was….
As near as I can figure they had my number because I had to call and ask them to do the same kind of welfare check on him about a year back; he wouldn’t answer the phone or return messages after repeated calls. They went over and his car wasn’t there and that was that) I call back almost immediately (I must has missed it by a minute) but the officer is no longer at his house and so, after giving them approval to break into the house, I have to wait for them to go back over and actually do it.
Text Suzanne - “On phone with Allegheny police. Might be bad news about my Dad”
Finally think to call him. “IF ITS IM-PO-TANT; LEAVE A MESSAGE!”. Tell him to pick up the damn phone, the police are coming to break his door down. Pretty sure I’m talking to just air at this point…….
So, I finish my errands (just the Post Office left and then home). Talk with Suzanne…..although I don’t know anything more at this point. Decide to swing by the PNC branch just down the road and for only the second time I ask them to print out his account balance (did it once to confirm I could do it many years ago). They do, there is nothing strange there. Get home; tell Kevin what is going on. Clean up a little, call a guy about a job and as I’m finishing that call the next call comes through and I have to hang up in a hurry. And yup, they found that he passed away in his sleep. Officer asks if he has a doctor; I laugh.
And that afternoon becomes a whirlwind of activity before we have to leave for the boys basketball games. Call Suzanne. Call Melanie. Call Mom. Tell Kevin that we will be heading to Pittsburgh Tuesday morning (missing a concert I had gotten him tickets to for his birthday on Tuesday night). The officer gives me a name of a funeral home; I call them, since I am interested in only cremation they refer me to another funeral home that has a crematorium on site. Make multiple calls to see if I can get Dad’s car detailed before we drive back; no luck there.
Begin to do a whole lot of internet research on how to deal with his estate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last time I saw him: Sunday morning, July 27th. Kevin and I were heading to Boston for orientation….we had breakfast with him at Eat N Park before we left town.
Last time I talked to him: Thanksgiving morning. We had been playing phone tag before that; the last voice mail message I had from him is below.
A little more substance in the only other message I still had; when I saw him in July we had talked about Matthew’s upcoming (but now cancelled) trip to Europe. He had offered to help with Matthew’s fundraising efforts……
Not many people to call after I had the news; did send an email to my half-sister. Tried to reach his sister; left two messages at what I think is the right number; no response. Probably should call down to Tipp City Ohio…haven’t done that yet.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
