Rev. Paul G. Hutton, CSV, died on July 3, 1959 at Little Company of Mary Hospital in San Pierre, IN. He was 53.
Fr. Hutton was born August 9, 1905 in Cambria, Wyoming. At the age of 4 he lost his mother, but soon was adopted by cousins in Kankakee, IL, where he would meet Viatorians serving in the area. After completing elementary school, he enrolled at the nearby St. Viator Academy and later he entered the Juniorate.
In the summer of 1923, Fr. Hutton entered the Novitiate of the Viatorian Community in Columbus, SD and pronounced his first vows on August 15, 1924. For the next four years, he pursued his academic studies at the Scholasticate, located at St. Viator College in Bourbonnais.
Following graduation, Fr. Hutton was assigned to Catholic University of America in Washington DC, where he earned a master’s degree in art, in 1931. In addition, he also pursued courses in the Theological College in preparation for the priesthood.
On June 10, 1933, Fr. Hutton was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, IL.
Fr. Hutton’s first assignment took him back to St. Viator College where he taught economics and was the Dean of Men from 1933-1938. Other teaching assignments included Cathedral Boys’ High School in Springfield, St. Francis College in Joliet, IL and St.Ambrose College in Davenport, IA.
In 1946, Fr. Hutton transitioned into pastoral work, when he was assigned to St. Patrick’s Church in Kankakee. He not only worked as a teacher at St. Patrick’s High School but he also served as a part-time assistant in the parish. The following year he was sent to Maternity of the Bless Virgin Mary Church in Bourbonnais, also as an assistant.
Fr. Hutton was appointed pastor of St. Anne Church in St. Anne, IL in 1948. After serving six years in St. Anne, he returned to Maternity BVM Church as pastor, which turned out to be his last assignment.
In 1956 he suffered a paralytic stroke which forced him to retire to the provincial residence in Arlington Heights, IL. He performed what services his health would permit, but the remaining two years of his life were spent in hospitals.
Fr. Hutton’s body was brought back July 5 to Maternity BVM Church to lie in state until the funeral services the next day.
On July 6, the Rev. Martin D. McNamara, bishop of the Diocese of Joliet, presided at the requiem Mass and gave the last absolution. The Rev. Frank Powers, CSV, celebrated the Mass with Fr. Emmett Walsh, CSV, a Novitiate classmate of Fr. Hutton, who delivered the homily. Burial took place in the Viatorian Community plot in the Maternity BVM cemetery.
Taken from an obituary in the 1959 Annuaire, a publication of the Viatorian General Direction and an obit from a news clipping, source and date unknown