Obituary of Charmaine Lea (Curry) Hutcheson

CHARMAINE LEA (CURRY) HUTCHESON (1953-2015) GALWAY – Charmaine C. Hutcheson passed away the morning of April 8 with her family by her side at her home on the hill in East Galway after a valiant battle against cancer. She was 62. Born March of 1953 in Youngstown, Ohio, Charmaine was raised by a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy and a strong church-going mother. She attended seven different schools over eight years from Key West, Florida to Kittery, Maine. Curious and confidant, she was active in many ways, including a 40-year association with Girl Scouts of America. She spent childhood summers on the family farms in Ohio and took fond afternoon drives to the Jersey Shore with her sister in high school. Charmaine graduated from Gateway Regional High School in Woodbury Heights, New Jersey in 1971. She attended Thiel College following high school, studied religion, and in 1975, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Charmaine began a career in education after college at The Ethel Walker School, a boarding institution of 200 girls in Simsbury, Connecticut. Promoted to director of student affairs shortly after arriving, Charmaine also stood up in front of a classroom for the first time, teaching religion class on the Old and New Testaments to grades 9-12. In 1977, Charmaine married and within three years created her self-proclaimed greatest assets: a daughter, Harleigh and a son, Kyle. She also took on graduate studies in theology from Trinity College in nearby Hartford, becoming the first person in her family to obtain a master’s degree in 1981. Ever the free spirit living life on her terms, Charmaine moved the kids to upstate New York and in 1985 she re-married, to Daniel Hutcheson and the two settled down on 15 acres in East Galway. Charmaine rose quickly within the local restaurant industry, finding work at the emerging Olde Bryan Inn of Saratoga Springs. The blonde “with rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes” diligently managed the summer hot spot for horsemen, entertainers and the local customers. The tavern progressed to become a Fortune 500 company as Charmaine trained the sales staff and obtained a national certification to conduct annual education for staff with T.I.P.S. (Training For Intervention by Servers of Alcohol). Even in the profit-based sector, Charmaine impacted many with her true calling: teaching. Twelve years of nights and weekends in the restaurant business wore on Charmaine, and she sought a return to education, substitute teaching at elementary schools in Saratoga County in the early 1990s. She advanced her own education and received a second master’s degree, this one a Master of Science in elementary education from the College of St. Rose in 1994. After substituting at Dorothy Nolan Elementary and Maple Avenue Middle School in the Saratoga Springs School District, Charmaine landed a position as the enrichment teacher at Galway Central School District in 1997. When asked during her hiring interview why she wanted to be a teacher in this particular district, the answer she gave to administrators was: “I wanted to give back to a school that provided such a solid educational foundation for my own children.” As an educator, Charmaine held the longest tenure in district history as the T.H.I.N.K. teacher, providing a 10-year tiered push-in/pull-out gifted and talented program for grades kindergarten through sixth grade. She also introduced the emerging computer technology and online learning into the advanced curriculum. A member of the Beta Omega chapter of Delta Pi Gamma, the international honor society of key women educators, Charmaine followed with five years as a member of the middle school, teaching sixth-grade math and science. For 14 summers, Charmaine taught a range of children from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, and participated in all the years that the after-school learning models existed. She finished her tenure “delightfully facilitating” a fourth-grade classroom, teaching math in Galway’s inaugural year of departmentalization. One administrator wrote in a letter of reference that Charmaine was a “wonderful resource for her colleagues in finding creative teaching strategy or solutions to meeting the needs of differently abled student.” Family was Charmaine’s lifeblood, but the educating was her masterpiece, an art she worked on continuously, learning through continued professional development and sharing effective practices with her teaching colleagues. During her time at Galway, Charmaine was also the chair of the district’s Fine Arts department, was an administrative assistant to the elementary school principal, advised the Student Senate, penned a weekly column in the Albany Times Union on middle school enrichment activities, was a troop leader for Girls Scout and den leader for Cub Scouts, and was a member and layperson at Galway United Methodist Church as well. Charmaine was equal parts lover and equal parts perfectionist of many things: photography, crafts, sewing, wildlife and nature. She loved her family, dancing to the music of the Grateful Dead, planting flowers, word puzzles and games, sharing good wine, camping in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire and smelling the ocean’s salty air, especially those carried by the winds blowing across her beach house in North Carolina. A fervent sports fan, Charmaine celebrated recent championships with many of her favorite teams: the UConn women’s basketball squad, The Ohio State Buckeye football team, and the Boston Red Sox baseball team. She often cashed tickets on the $1 1/3/4/7 exacta box during the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course (was partial to grey thoroughbreds). Her love of sport spilled into her teaching: she created the Pigskin math league for the T.H.I.N.K. students; chaperoned Galway girls and boys basketball games, and even coached soccer and basketball teams in the Galway Youth Commission. Charmaine is survived by her devoted husband of 30 years, Daniel Hutcheson; her children Harleigh Chwastyk (David) of Rutledge, Pennsylvania and Kyle Leach (Kaitlin) of Centerville, Indiana; and her beautiful grandchildren Logan and Calleigh Chwastyk. Charmaine is also survived by her parents Harry and Betty Curry of Groton, Connecticut; her sister Linda Pelcher of Oak Island; North Carolina; brother Dennis Curry of Groton; sister Janis Tripp of New Hartford, Connecticut, as well as several nephews and nieces. Per Charmaine’s wishes, the family will celebrate her life with a party in May – more information will be provided to guests. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to: Friends of G.V. Barbee Library (8200 E. Oak Island Drive, Oak Island, N.C. 28465) to provide new books for summer reading programs.