Mrs. Martha Jo Finnell Hutchins

This site is dedicated to the loving memory of Martha Jo Hutchins. Martha was born Martha Finnell on March 5, 1932 to Bert and Thelma Finnell and passed away on June 5, 2010. She was the proud wife of Elijah Larue Hutchins until his death in 1985. Throughout her life, she was a homemaker and loving wife, but this was only a small aspect of her. She also held a job with Texas Instruments soldering circuits by hand. Additionally, she spent several years living abroad with her husband. Throughout her life, she played many roles; She was a sister to one, loving wife, mother to three, friend to countless others, ‘Grandmommy’ to 6, and Great-Grandmommy to one.

Martha was born in Ector, Texas in 1932 to Thelma and Bert Finnell. She was the second child, with an older brother Billy. The Finnells owned farmland in the small town of about 700 residents. It was a farm town where everyone knew each other, and locked doors were unheard of. Things were slow compared to the big cities nearby like Dallas. There were few modern conveniences like air conditioning and no indoor toilets. People could socialize in church, play basketball at the high school or catch a movie for a quarter back in those days, but there were few other modern conveniences. The Finnell family also had a family radio, but other modern pleasures such as the ‘television’ were practically unheard of. In early December 1941, a nine-year-old Martha went to a neighbor’s house to watch news reports of the Pearl Harbor attacks on a brand new twelve-inch black and white television.

Martha graduated from high school in 1948 at the age of sixteen. After graduating, she moved to Dallas to attend a business college where she acquired a business degree. She took a job at the local phone company in the accounting department where she met a woman by the name of Margaret Hutchins. The two worked together for a couple years. Margaret introduced Martha to her brother Elijah, who was in the military. The two had a courtship of almost two years before they married in 1952.

With his work in the military, the Hutchins family moved frequently depending on where he was stationed. The couple moved from Dallas to Pittsburg, California. After a brief stay there, they moved back to Texas and were stationed in Del Rio, Texas in 1953. Del Rio became almost a second home to the young family, which quickly grew in the small Texas town. In the seven years they lived there, the couple celebrated the births of their first two children; Douglas Hutchins was born on October 17th, 1954 while Jolinda was born in October of 1958.

The Hutchins family lived in Del Rio for seven years until they were relocated in 1961. This relocation moved the family out of the country and into Europe. Elijah was stationed at Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin. Berlin was a far cry from the United States; the winters were unbearably cold, and it wasn’t a stretch to call the summers one month. The beds were uncomfortable, made mainly of straw. On the upside, the cold climate kept pests like flies and bugs away. The Hutchins family started out living off of the base, but moved to base housing after about two years.

Life on the base was much closer to life at home. The houses were warm, the commissary and PX were close, and there were many families living on the base. Within the housing block that the Hutchins family lived, there were six other families. This helped bring back a sense of home in an otherwise foreign land. The biggest challenge for the couple came on August 13, 1961 with the construction of the Berlin Wall. The Wall’s purpose was to keep the East German people from fleeing to the west, while many saw it as a sign of potential war. Less than three weeks after the erection of the Berlin Wall, Martha gave birth to her youngest son, Michael. With tensions rising, contingency plans were made that would have the civilians evacuated back to home. If this happened, there was a real chance that Michael would have to remain in Germany if an American birth certificate was not shown. Much to her relief, the family was kept together.

While in Germany, Martha was able to witness a historic event from the window of her home on the base. On June 26, 1963 Mrs. Hutchins was able to witness President John F. Kennedy’s military speech from her living room window. The President was only 100 yards away from the home when he gave his speech. It was only 5 months later that Kennedy was killed in Dallas.

In December 1963, the Hutchins family came back to the United States. Elijah was first stationed in Wichita, Kansas. Martha lived there for a year and a half until Elijah was sent to Thailand for active duty. She then moved back to Grand Prairie briefly for a year, before moving to Sioux City, Iowa when Elijah returned. From Iowa the family moved to Dennison, Texas. After the closure of the Dennison base, the family moved to Houston where Elijah retired a few years later after suffering a heart attack, and to move closer to family living in Grand Prairie in 1973. In 1976, Elijah formed a sign making company called “Hutchins and Vaughn” in Grand Prairie. The couple lived together happily until Elijah’s death in 1985.

In her life, Martha was primarily a housewife, who managed the household and raised three children, but she also held two jobs. She worked for a couple years at the phone company, but also worked at Texas Instruments for three years. At Texas Instruments she bonded wires to semi-conductors on an assembly line during the third shift. In her free time Martha was known to sew, practice gardening, and cook. She was an active member of First Baptist Church Grand Prairie through the periods of her life that she lived in the Dallas area.

She has been preceded in death by her husband Elijah, and her parents. She is loved and remembered by her family that will always remember her: Her Brother: Billy Finnell, Sons: Mike and Douglas Hutchins, Daughter, Jolinda McCool, Grand Children: Michael, Chris, and Chad Hutchins, Baylee, Matt, and Callie McCool, and Great-Grand Daughter: Allison Hutchins. She had many friends throughout her life, which will no doubt miss her and love her as well.

You are missed and will always be loved, Grandmommy. Thank you for all you have done for us all.