Jordan P. ‘Tut’ Tuthill, 88

Jordan P. “Tut” Tuthill, 88, left this planet to be with the Lord on March 22, 2020. Born Oct. 27, 1931, in Norwich, Vt., to Ruth (school teacher in the 1920s) and Benjamin Tuthill (farmer and house painter). He was the fifth of six children who lived and were raised on a remote farm several miles outside the hamlet of Norwich.

His closest sibling, sister Carolyn, shared with him many happy childhood and school years, through high school, enjoying sports and games. He was an avid hunter, shooter and fly fisherman, and he taught her to shoot and tie flies. He excelled at both and was an expert marksman. He amazed all with his love of hunting and shooting, despite a very serious, life-threatening shotgun accident wound to the side of his face while a very young child that left him badly scarred and with total hearing loss on his right side; it didn’t phase him. He would focus, confidently apply himself, and overcome any challenge and chore. He was intelligent, creative and adaptable.

Norse ancestry and some New England Indian Tribe blood probably accounted for his hardiness and love of the outdoors. His stalking ability, patience and marksmanship were legendary. He was an Olympic qualified marksman while in college and won two different state NRA sponsored championships with a .22 cal rifle.

He had his mother’s gentle personality and she had a strong influence on his early interest in higher education as well as his Christian beliefs. In high school he played guitar with a small band of friends. During that time he also learned to fly airplanes and enjoyed the many hours soaring over the Vermont and New Hampshire countryside in his little Piper Cub.

Tut worked on his folks’ farm and with his father, painting houses and buildings at Dartmouth College in Hanover, directly across the Connecticut River from Norwich, his hometown. He did not like the painting work and decided, following high school graduation, to pursue other work and college. He worked as a draftsman and saved enough money to start college, first to Michigan Technical Institute (Upper Peninsula in Houghton, Mich.) then to Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pa.). He graduated with a degree in metallurgical engineering.

Upon graduating he took a job as a research engineer in a Utah firm in the field of rare earths (lithium being one that is derived by solar evaporation of water from the Great Salt Lake). Following his term there, he accepted a position in Texas City, Texas, and, in collaboration with Dr. Gates, patented a method to extract manganese from manganese nodules prevalent on the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, in 1960 he left that place and was hired by Austenal Inc, Dover, N.J., the world’s largest producer of high-temperature alloy jet engine blades and vanes (gas turbines) for military and civilian use in their research facility, which supported their large production facilities in Dover and LaPorte, Ind.

Upon his arrival in Dover he was greeted by Dan Brockway, who was the manager of new tooling and new products for both the Dover production and research operations. Tut and Dan discovered they had a similar love for hunting, shooting, fly fishing, camping and hiking in the wilderness areas of the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains and other vast and wild areas. Dan invited Tut to his home for dinner and to meet his wife, Pinky, and his children Dan Jr. and Diann. They all took an immediate liking to him and he has been a lifelong friend — hunting, fishing, camping and hiking together — for the past 60 years.

He was also a dependable, honest, dedicated and talented employee, co-worker and junior partner ever since, in such places as Tampa, Fla., Rome, N.Y., Cucamonga, Calif., Naples, Maine, Spokane, Wash. and Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, Idaho, where Dan built new factories and businesses. He then worked for several years at LA Aluminum Castings in Hayden, Idaho, a manufacturer of permanent mold aluminum castings and machining and finishing the same. He was both a machinist and consultant, from which he retired several years ago.

Tut was an excellent and patient tutor for his entire career and became a friend and co-worker with Dan Jr. for many years until his death. In his personal life, he became fast friends with many, and especially Pastor Steve Bradshaw of the Cowboy Church, Cocolalla, Idaho (since the 1980s), and to his next-door neighbor and landlord, Bill Kauffman and his family (who Tut taught Elk hunting to — very successfully), who all became fond of this gentle, capable, reliable, humble and honest man.

Tut was a runner and completed a marathon in Coeur d’Alene. His last audible words to Dan were “I want to be with Jesus Christ.” Well, I’m sure he’s there and at that Happy Hunting Ground. A memorial service is planned for May at the Cowboy Church in Cocolalla. Rather than flowers or cards, a donation to the Schneidmiller Hospice House, 2290 W. Prairie Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815, in memory of Jordan Tuthill, is appreciated.