Gladys Hutterer

Gladys Hutterer, 92, mother of four, died peacefully on Saturday, September 10, 2022. An adult convert to Catholicism, she was a member of St. Thomas Aquinas and Blessed Sacrament parishes in Wichita. Rosary will be at 7:00 pm, Wednesday, September 14, 2022, at Downing & Lahey East Mortuary. Funeral Mass will be at 10:00 am, Thursday, September 15, 2022, at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Gladys, or "Olde Mutter Hutter" as she called herself in her always- entertaining annual Christmas letters, was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph Anthony Hutterer; her parents, Wilbert and Matilda O'Connor; and her sisters, Bernadette Baumgart and Geraldine Kochendorfer. She is survived by her sisters, Sally Barrow and Jodelle Ista of Inver Grove, MN; daughters, Angela Zechmann of Olympia, WA and Connie Van Horne of Folsom CA; sons, Michael Hutterer of Wichita and Joseph Hutterer of Wilmington NC; and grandchildren, Jenna and Cecelia Zechmann, Zachary and Zoe Hutterer, and Theo, A. J., and Christopher Van Horne.The middle of the five "O'Connor Sisters," Gladys spent her childhood and early adulthood in St Paul and Hastings MN. When she was 9, Gladys’ father moved his family of daughters from town life to a Minnesota farm as the Depression unfolded. Gladys milked cows in the morning darkness and carried eggs on the school bus to sell at the grocery store in town. After graduating high school, Gladys served as a receptionist at Haas Livestock Commission in South St. Paul MN. A gregarious "people person," she was active in the "Club with No Name," a social group for young singles, and eventually met Joe Hutterer, a Minnesota farm boy turned aeronautical engineer who would become her husband of 54 years. Together they had 4 children, whom they raised (mostly) in Wichita.Gladys was the long-suffering but good-natured ally to her husband’s lifelong series of innovations and enterprises. In the early 1970s, she dragged her young family to California briefly while he invested in developing a pusher-prop aircraft. Later, while he worked for Lycoming and Cessna by day, and invented airplane and auto modifications by night, she established a home around his basement and garage workshops.In response to the oil shortage of the late 1970s, Joe and Gladys opened a Moped store, and she managed and promoted it for years. In her spare time, she became an avid garage-saler. A “professional mom,” she dabbled in real estate and retail sales after her children left the nest, but was never truly happy until Joe rented an office space on North Rock Road, and she became the receptionist and office-mom for the Executive Park East, a suite of over 15 offices. She worked there for 17 years, retiring at age 82.Gladys relished any opportunity to travel: Lockerbie, Osh Kosh, Panama, Chile, Japan, and many trips to visit her sisters in Minnesota and her children throughout the US. Gladys was known for her caring ways, her celebrations, and her baking; pink birthday cakes and Russian Tea Cakes were specialties. She loved parties and people; she lived a long challenging, but happy life. Her resilient spirit will be sorely missed.A memorial has been established with the Alzheimer's Association, Central & Western Kansas, 1820 E. Douglas Ave., Wichita, KS 67214.

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