Featured Story – Honorable Mention
By – The Staff of Weekly Bargain Bulletin
In memory of Frank W. Hutchinson, Sr., age 82, of Neshannock Twp. passed away on Friday, August 30, 2019 in UPMC Jameson Hospital with loving family by his side. At his bedside, the family sang his favorite hymn “Old Rugged Cross”. They also sang “Amazing Grace”, It is Well”, and as they say “I’ll Fly Away” he left this world and flew into the arms of Jesus, his Lord and Savior.
Frank was born January 16, 1937, in New Castle, to the late Harold M. and Ethel Bartholomew Hutchison. Where did the name Frank W. Hutchison come from? F.W. Hutchison operated The Hutchison Feed Store on Beaver St., downtown New Castle (where Eat ‘n Park sits) during the years of the California Gold Rush. He had 3 daughters. The daughters went to Harold and Ethel, being they already had 4 girls and 2 boys, and asked that if their next baby was a boy, would they name him Frank in honor of their Dad and to carry on the F.W. Hutchison name.
Frank was founder and owners of The Weekly Bargain Bulletin which started in 1972. His family, to the 3rd generation is still active in the operations of the paper today. Frank was a 1956 graduate of New Castle High and served in The United States National Guard. Frank previously held offices as Neshannock Twp. Supervisor, Board Chairman of Highland Heights UB Church, President of PennCan, PAAP, and MACPA. He enjoyed hunting, yard work, gardening, being active in his church community, and spending time with his family. He was President of the Neshannock Athletic Assoc. and was instrumental in the development of the Neshannock baseball field behind the Memorial School.
Frank was known for electric motor repairs, and once operated a business, “Hutchison’s Electric.” In his younger years, he enjoyed boating and water skiing at Brady’s end and Sharpsville Reservoir. He enjoyed playing softball and volleyball with his children on the Highland Heights UB Church teams. For years he was the HHUB Church fellowship hall coordinator and organizer of the local churches volleyball league. He enjoyed music and singing with his family and encouraged his children to do the same; and they do, to the 4th generation.
Frank prized honesty, hard work, and a good work ethic. This is the way he operated the Weekly Bargain Bulletin and has been instrumental in its success.
Frank Jr. recalls that when he was a kid all of the dads did odd jobs and moonlighted for a second income for some extra money to keep the bills paid. “Dad did a lot of different things, but the work was sporadic. In the early seventies, he showed me a free paper from Florida that a family member had given him after returning from their vacation. He thought it might be a good way to earn a regular supplemental income.” It became his full time livelyhood.
At the beginning, Karen remembers doing all of the typing on stencils to be used to print the pages on the mimeograph machine. She say she would find “for sale” ads posted in laundromats and other public places, write them down, and call each one to get permission to run their ad for free in this new paper called Weekly Bargain Bulletin…and it worked!
Ed remembers that Dad always made it known to people that his first purchase from the Bulletin was Camp Red Fox, a hunting camp located just outside of Marienville, PA. Then there was the time the Comp-2 machine went down when one of the motors burned up. He contacted the company that made the machine. They told him the fastest they could get him a new motor would be 5 days. He said “That won’t work, I need it tomorrow. The papers goes out in 3 days. Don’t ship it unless you hear from me.” He checked other places with no results. That night he thought, “What do I have to lose?” He took the motor out of his still-operational motor workbench, tore the motor down, and rewound the motor using paper and shellac, like varnish. The use of shellac was normal. The paper served as the substitute insulator to keep the motor from shoring out. He rewound the motor, put it in the machine, tried it, and it worked. The Comp-2 worked with the same motor for years until they scrapped the machine.
JoyeDell can remember going to bed Wednesday nights to the ka-chunk, ka-chunk sound of the mimeograph machines in the basement as they printed out each page of the Bulletin. She knew that after school on Thursday, a number of the neighborhood kids would all converge on her house, where the couches and chairs were all converted to tables, so they could sort, stable, count, and stack the 8.5″x14″ double-sided pages of the Bulletin for delivery on Friday.
Matt remembers going with Dad in the early years to Buckeye Printing in Ohio to get the paper printed on a printing press. He remembers the CompuGraphic machines where each line of type was done on one long strip of photo-tape that you had to develop in a desk-size developer cabinet, and hung to dry in a dark room that only had a red light. He also remembers “helping” to deliver papers with Mom when he was just a youngster.
Frank Prized His Family: Surviving is his wife of 62 years, Karen Lee Dell Hutchison; four children, Frank W. (Barbara) Hutchison, Jr., Edward T. (Dodie) Hutchison, JoyeDell (Mark) Beers, and Matthew J. (Jenn) Hutchison; 10 grandchildren: Andrew Beers, Jamie Plyler, Amy Lynn McConahy, Glenn Hutchison, Benjamin Beers, TrishaLee Boggs, Allison Hutchison, Megan Hutchison, Paige Hutchison, Katie Renn; 10 great-grandchildren: JJ Plyler, Timothy McConahy, Jonathan Beers, Samuel McConahy, Alina Plyler, Tabitha McConahy, Julianne Baxter, Chirstopher Renn, Nathaniel Wild, Timothy Wild; brother, Harold (Nancy) Hutchison and sister, Elizabeth (Richard) Parry.
Besides his parents he preceded in death by siblings Ilene Bower, Lois Arkwright, June Reiber, John Hutchison, Mary Spiker and Ethel McClusky.
he will be sadly missed by his family…but his legacy will live on. We thank you for allowing the Bulletin to serve you for the last 47 years, and counting.
