Jon Hutchinson

Jon Hutchinson died from heart failure on December 24, 2022. He was born in 1948 in Huntington, Indiana to D. Robert Hutchinson, a presbyterian minister, and Orpha Marie McKee.

Jon moved to the Florida Keys at age ten. He loved the salty water and the gritty sand, spending days fishing and catching Florida lobster during the season. He attended Marathon High School and later moved to Ft. Lauderdale, where he graduated from Northeast High School in 1966. He attended Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, spending a defining semester in New York City. Jon worked as an announcer for two Florida radio stations, providing him with considerable skills that he would return to in his career as News Director for KAZM Radio in Sedona, Arizona. He was spinning records as a night jockey in Florida when a call invited him to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer at A3Z Radio in Nuku'alofa, Tonga.

Jon and fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Patricia Touchette, a teacher, met, married, and served in the South Pacific. They traveled overland through Australasia, South East Asia, and the Middle East, and then - drawn to island life - settled into careers in Kona, Hawaii.

Jon and Tricia returned to the mainland to be near Arizona relatives. They lived near Northern Arizona University for a couple of years and settled in the Verde Valley. Jon held community roles, reported the news, and led their two children on river hikes through Sycamore Canyon, and on winding drives to Peck’s Lake. He was a self-made handyman, building and maintaining a home in the Clarkdale Foothills.

Jon was preceded by his 40-year companion, Patricia Touchette Hutchinson, and is survived by son Nathan (Las Vegas), daughter Sierra (Clarkdale), and two granddaughters.

Donations may be made in his honor may support local history and archeology programs, and rails-to-trails initiatives like New York’s Highline Canal.

Join us for a gathering of friends to raise a glass at Smeltertown Brewery in Clarkdale, Arizona on Sunday, January 8, 2023 from 2-5pm.