George Washington Hutchinson Jr. USN 1927-1997

Can I enlist the help of any amateur genealogists out there to help me find living relatives of George Washington Hutchinson Jnr?
George was a retired USN sailor (possibly a chief) who retired to a place called Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

I had the honour of getting to know this beautiful couple when I was the civilian medical secretary (1990-95) at US NSGA Edzell, Scotland.
George passed away in 1997 age 70 (born approx. 1927) and Ada L. Hutchinson passed away at Stracathro Hospital in 1992 age 65 (born approx. 1927). Ada’s maiden name was possibly Wharton.

As next year will be twenty years since George’s passing, I would very much like to find their burial plot and lay some flowers in their memory. If possible I would like the family to know that they’ve never been forgotten.

When I first met Ada, we had a very uncomfortable meeting. I was apparently the spitting image of their dead adopted daughter, also called Maria. It gave Ada quite a shock when she first saw me. We became firm friends from that very first day.

Their daughter Maria, tragically died the night she qualified from the Naval Officer Academy. I cannot remember now if that was Virginia or Washington? probably not long before I started work at RAF Edzell in 1990.

If anybody can help I would be most grateful.

Kind regards Maria
P.S. It’s so long ago now, but if my memory serves me right, I believe their health records were green and yellow, this may help to define the State their SSN came from. The picture was taken post 1992 for some Navy birthday celebration, I took George along as my date for the evening.

 

I think I've found Ada's family via a family tree on Ancestry. I'm kicking myself for not checking there first. They seem to be an active user on Ancestry, so fingers crossed they will see my message and respond.

Sorry the picture is there twice. Computer crashed when I tried to post originally. Computer doesn't appear to like Windows 10.

Thanks to those that looked though. Cheers Maria

 

I tried looking on Findagrave.com, but did not find either.

 

Many thanks for trying to find the grave TD-Tommy. I've had some great assistance through a local Laurencekirk Facebook group who have identified which graveyard George & Ada are buried in. I'm going to take a look the next time I'm driving past. Should be easy enough to identify as I'm lead to believe there is an American flag flying at the grave.

I haven't heard back from the Ancestry tree owner yet. Still hopeful I can make contact. Cheers Maria

 

Great find, Lou. Don't know how I missed it on Fold3, but here's one that's a bit larger size.

View attachment 24578

 

Thank you all for your input. Fantastic to see his draft reg. card. The Facebook group have been so helpful I know exactly were their grave is. I've been told there is also a plaque as you enter the cemetery dedicated to their daughters memory. I'm going to take a drive up there today.

Interestingly I was told their daughter was adopted in Cyprus, so I assume George must have been stationed there at one point during his career. Wish I'd known before as I would have paid more attention to the bases when I was holidaying in Cyrus a few years back.

How easy is it to obtain copies of service records? Is it like the MOD records here in the UK, open to anyone after so many years following their death?

I wish I could remember all the stories George used to tell me about his Navy days. He loved being in the Navy. He used to get into trouble by the docs for his cigar smoking, but he wasn't going to change for any of them and used to put them in their place. He liked his cigars and that was that. It made me laugh every time he came into my office.

Thank you as well for providing his date of death. There are so many wonderful comments about them I'm starting to toy with the idea of maybe getting a small service together next year at their grave side.

I don't know any of the ships George served on, but there is one person on FB whose sister went to school with Maria. They and others may have more memories to share. I'll post anything that can add to their story. Cheers - Maria

 

I've a lot of blanks to fill in Otto, many thanks for your offer of help. That sounds like quite a collection of photos. I'd love to look through a collection like that. I'd like to know when exactly he joined the Navy. I could have sworn he saw some WW2 service.

In the meantime, here's a couple of photos of their grave in Laurencekirk Cemetery, Aberdeenshire I took today. The flag is looking a little tired. I'll get that renewed next year. Sure made it easy to find it in the cemetery.

Och, the photos are too big. Will get them reduced later and post. Got a nice phrase on the headstone though "A Family United". I layed a yellow rose from our garden on the plot. Think yellow is meant to mean friendship. Bye for now.

Edit: Photos added

 

I would be happy to add a Memorial page for them on Findagrave.com along with your photos of their grave marker (and with your permission, of course).

 

TD Tommy, that would be fantastic if you could add the details and photos to findagrave.

I'm still working away on trying to connect with their families. I've managed to find both of them on the Census returns for 1930 and 1940, so I'm now able to research their siblings.

I left a message with a potential nephew of Ada's on Facebook tonight. Fingers crossed I hit lucky with that.

The Ancestry tree owner didn't respond. Perhaps they just want it to remain private. I researched many branches of my own tree, so I've lots of info on the website, but didn't know alot of them personally. They have their reasons for not responding, but I respect that. Cheers Maria

 

Maria, I am very sorry and a bit embarrassed that I lost track of this until I accidentally came across it today. I have added their Memorials and your photos to Find A Grave. Please PM me with any errors or missing info that can be corrected or updated. If you have obits for them or would like to compose bios for them, just let me know via PM.

George W. Hutchinson, Jr.

Ada Hutchinson

SA Maria Ellen Hutchinson

 

Many thanks for the update and absolutely no need to apologize TD Tommy. Reminds me to get a new flag for the grave in time for Ada's anniversary.