CHARLES H. HUTSON

 

Dec 27, 1956

 

Charles H. Hutson, 65, founder of Neu Way Cleaners and owner operator of the Mt. Vernon dry cleaning firm until he sold it in 1948 to Mr. and Mrs. Louis G. Risch, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (25 Dec 1956) in Deaconess Hospital in Evansville.

 

Ill for several years of emphysema, which filled his lungs with fluid and eliminated air space, he entered the hospital yesterday morning from his home at 228 E. Fourth street.

 

A resident of Mt. Vernon since boyhood, the deceased combined tireless energy, sound business judgment and a friendly personality to build a substantial business prior to his retirement because of failing health.

 

The body is at Weisinger Funeral Home and it will remain there through the funeral service set for 2 p.m. Saturday in Weisinger chapel.  Burial will be in Bellefontaine cemetery.

 

The officiating clergyman will be Rev. Temas Taylor, minister of General Baptist church, of which the surviving wife of the deceased is a member and which Mr. Hutson attended.

 

Friends may cal l at Weisinger chapel after 7 o'clock this evening.

 

The surviving wife is the former Edith Watkins, a native of Mt. Vernon community, whose marriage to Mr. Hutson took place 41 years ago this month.  Also surviving are a son, Charles Robert Hutson, Bedford, Ind; a foster son, William C. Thompson, Mt. Vernon; three grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs. E. E. Alderman, Dayton, Ohio and Mrs. Gertrude Causey, Oliver Station.

 

The deceased was a native of McLeansboro, Ill., the son of Uel H. Hutson and Lillie Edick Hutson.  He accompanied his parents to Mt. Vernon when he was nine years old.

 

In contrast to his vigorous life prior to his retirement, Mt. Hutson had been inactive since he sold his cleaning firm in 1948.  In 1952, he underwent surgery for the amputation of a leg due to an arterial condition.

 

Prior to his entrance into the dry cleaning business in 1928, the deceased owned and operated a grocery store at 400 E. Second street and prior to that time was a clerk in local food stores.

 

His first cleaning plant was of humble origin and located in the Brownstown section of Mt. Vernon.  In 1932 he purchased the Hempfling building at 409 Main street and in the 16 year period that followed developed the business into one of the Tri-States modern firms.

 

Aggressive in his progressive operation, he and his wife devoted long hours of hard work in developing the Neu Way firm.  A wide acquaintance and a geniality that won him friends readily were other assets that contributed to his success.

--------------------------------------------

Originally submitted by Betty Sellers