Barbara Jeannette Hutton

Barbara Jeanette Blamey Hutton was born on May 26, 1932, in Portovelo, Ecuador, where her father Sanford Blamey worked as a mining engineer and her mother Mayna served as a nurse. She passed away peacefully on August 9, 2026, at Swedish Cherry Hill in Seattle, at the age of 94.

The family eventually left Ecuador and made their way across the United States, living in Illinois, then California, in Bishop and then Santa Barbara, before settling in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1942.

Barbara attended Wasatch Academy, a boarding school in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, where she played tennis and discovered a love of science. After high school she worked in Denver for an actuarial firm, and then, inspired by her mother, enrolled in the nursing program at Denver's Children's Hospital in 1956. She earned her RN degree and went on to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from the University of Denver.

Barbara became the school nurse at Grand Junction High School, which is where she met a young English and History teacher named Floyd Wykes Hutton. Their first date was the evening before Thanksgiving, 1960. They were engaged the following December, eloped in the spring, and were married on May 27, 1961.

Floyd and Barbara moved to Washington State in 1962. After living in Des Moines, they settled in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, bought a house, and built a community of lifelong friends around them for the next 42 years. Barbara was awarded a scholarship to the University of Washington, where she earned her Master's Degree in Nursing. She went on to co-found the RN program at Highline Community College and taught there for 25 years, earning the honor of Teacher of the Year.

Together, Barbara and Floyd were tireless in their curiosity about the world. They hiked and kayaked across the Pacific Northwest and into Canada. They traveled abroad to Turkey, Scotland, and parts of South America. At home, Barbara gardened, quilted, and painted watercolors, many of which hang in the homes of friends to this day. For more than 20 years she rowed in the masters program at Green Lake, where she found a circle of friends whose bonds lasted the rest of her life.

Barbara and Floyd moved to Horizon House in 2007, where she remained an engaged and beloved presence, serving on committees and making, as was her way, many, many friends. Floyd passed away on February 21, 2026, after 65 years of marriage. Barbara followed him on August 9, 2026, just months later.

She was grateful to the residents and staff of Horizon House for their kindness and caring toward both her and Floyd. Her motto, the one she lived by, was simply: "Be Kind."

Barbara is survived by her sister Sandra Longnecker; her sister-in-law Margaret Hutton; her nephews Brent, Tristan, and Cabot; her niece Lacia; and many beloved grand-nieces and grand-nephews.