Olga Esther Hutchison peacefully passed away Saturday, July 16th, 2022, at The Willows in Bellevue following a brief illness. She was born May 19th, 1929, near Bordeaux, France and was the 4th of 5 children born to Robert and Jeanne Levy.
Olga led a fascinating and harrowing life in Nazi-occupied France and would hold us spellbound with her many tales. On her eleventh birthday, she was forced to flee, with her family, from the advancing army with only 2 hours to pack a few meager belongings and get to the train station – leaving her pet canary behind. They joined the growing flood of refugees and she recalled being packed into cattle cars, enduring long delays as the Germans constantly bombed the railroad tracks and strafed random train cars. They eventually ended up in a farmhouse in Normandy where she was sent to a Catholic boarding school, away from her family, to keep her safe.
Her family lived off what they were able to catch from the sea and the rabbits they raised, because her father was not allowed to work. Her oldest brother, Jean, joined the French Resistance and helped several Allied troops escape capture from the Nazis. Another brother, Daniel, was seized by the Germans and imprisoned in a work camp in Germany. The family never knew what happened to him until he was liberated by the Russians. Olga remembers counting the Allied planes flying overhead on D-Day with her sister Annie. They stopped counting at 500, and the planes kept coming.
After the war, Olga emigrated alone to Windsor, Canada at the age of 21. Shortly afterwards, she would meet the love of her life, James Warner Hutchison, during an opera for which they both arrived late. They married May 14, 1954 and embarked on their 47- year long adventure. Her distressing childhood, along with the untimely death of their youngest daughter, Carol, were tragic reminders of how fragile life is. They would channel their grief into the creation of the Carol Hutchison Lepley Scholarship which is given yearly to a female graduate of BSHS. They took pride in being able to help so many girls in Carol’s name and that legacy will continue. Olga had a fierce love of family and cherished time spent with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She also loved time spent with her dear friends, Jo and Geri, and her beloved cats, Miss Uno and Peanut. She was tough and strong, and we will miss her greatly.
She is survived by her older sister, Annie, and her younger brother, Franklin, both of France; her daughters: Catherine Boyd of Mansfield, OH and Karen (Benjamin) Ball of Clyde, OH; four grandchildren: Christina (Adrian) Widdop and Michael (Chelsea) Garrett, Kyle (Ashley) Ball and Shannon (Scott) Ackerman; ten great-grandchildren: Landon, Campbell and Annora Widdop, Austin and Owen Garrett, Everly, Ella, Emersyn and Xander Ball, and Ernest Ackerman.
In addition to her parents and husband, Olga was preceded in death by her two brothers, Jean and Daniel Levy and her daughter: Carol Monique Lepley.
Private services with burial in Bellevue Cemetery will be observed. Foos & Foos Funeral Service, Bellevue is in care of arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to: Back to the Wild, P.O. Box 423, Castalia, Ohio 44824; any local Animal welfare organization; or the Donor’s favorite charity.
Memories and condolences may be shared at www.foosfuneral.com
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