Palestine High School Alumni Association

11 / 28 / 1920  – 12 / 25 / 2010

Elizabeth Stafford Hutchinson, born November 28, 1920, died on December 25, 2010, at her home in Palestine, Texas, after a long struggle with cancer. Renowned for her strength and stamina, “Ready Teddy” as she was known to some, was a longtime Washington, D.C. social figure with ties to every presidential administration since Dwight David Eisenhower’s. She was a national television celebrity in January 2009 for her unbroken record of attending every presidential inauguration since 1953. Hutchinson was a founding member, trustee, past secretary, and vice president emerita (since 1994) of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Her community and civic involvement included: docent, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., community chairman, American Field Service; president, Westmoreland Hills Garden Club, Bethesda, Maryland; president, Texas State Society, Washington, D.C., (she commissioned a bust of President Dwight D. Eisenhower by Felix de Weldon for permanent display in the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts); and guest speaker, Texas State Society’s annual celebration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s birthday (his 97th that year) at LBJ Grove, Washington, D.C., August 27, 2005. She baked 97 miniature birthday cupcakes to give everyone in attendance.

She was preceded in death by her husband of almost 50 years, Everett Hutchinson, who in the 1950s and 1960s served as commissioner and later chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, as under secretary of transportation under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and finally as senior partner and counsel in the law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski in Washington, D.C. She was also preceded by her son Stafford Hutchinson, former assistant U.S. attorney, Dallas, Texas, 1974-1997 (died February 25, 2004).

She is survived by her daughter Ann Hutchinson Slattery of Montalba, Texas, granddaughter Chantal Slattery, and great granddaughter Sofia Ann Slattery, both of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Services will be held at 11:00 A.M. Thursday at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Palestine, Texas, with the Reverend Ted Welty officiating. Burial will follow in East Hill, Palestine City Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Bailey & Foster, Palestine.

Condolence calls will be received from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Wednesday at Bailey & Foster Funeral Home, Palestine.

Donations may be made to the Everett Hutchinson Endowed Presidential Scholarship at The University of Texas Law School or the Elizabeth Stafford Hutchinson Internship Endowment, National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Palestine Herald Press 12 / 28 / 2010