Kari Njaa Hutson

Born in Rockford, Illinois, Kari grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts, and Bowie, Maryland, before attending North Park College in Chicago. After graduation, she moved to Boston to practice nursing. There, she soon reconnected with John Hutson, her high school sweetheart. John and Kari were married by her father at North Park Covenant Church on May 8, 1982. As a Navy couple, they lived in Gaeta, Italy, and Pensacola, Florida, before returning to Bowie to start their family.

Kari was a cardiac critical care nurse and a hospice volunteer for many years. She was a cook, a world traveler, a reader, and an avid knitter. She loved spending summers at the family cottage in Maine, boating, paddle boarding, and looking out over her beloved Norton’s Pond. Raised in a pastor’s family, she had the gift of warmth and generous hospitality. She was a patient listener and a wise counsel. She was caregiver to many and a loving person to all. Kari was a woman of faith. She saw the best in everyone and offered tremendous grace to those around her. Her life’s work and ultimate joy was her family—being a wife, mother, and Mormor.

Kari was a cancer survivor. Once in the 1980’s, and this year, she was on the road to recovery again, when she passed.

Kari is survived by John Hutson, her husband of nearly 40 years, and their children Karoline (Rich) Gallena, Katherine (Dillon) Fink, and David Hutson, and granddaughter, Kari Hope Fink. She is preceded in death by her father, Donald Njaa, and survived by her mother, Turid Rafos Njaa, brother David (Jan) Njaa, sister Sarah (Dave) Hill, brothers-in-law Bill (Joanne) and Jim (Ann) Hutson, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and many dear friends.

A visitation will be held at the Robert E. Evans Funeral Home (16000 Annapolis Rd, Bowie, MD) on Thursday, November 18, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. The funeral service will be held at the Church of the Redeemer (7300 Race Track Rd, Bowie, MD) on Friday, November 19th, at 11am. The family requests that masks be worn.

If you wish to make a donation in Kari’s honor, please consider a gift to the Navy SEAL Foundation (NavySealFoundation.org), marked in ‘memory of Kari Njaa Hutson.’