Victor Hobbs Hutchison

Abstract

S OME people seem to be born leaders and Vic Hutchison is one of them. He has served in such a capacity in numerous and varied organizations throughout his life. Early on, he showed leadership in high school and the Boy Scouts. Even in late retirement he is the Manager of the Oklahoma Evolution List Serve where he alerts teachers around the state of pending anti-evolution and anti-science legislation in the state legislature. Vic’s legacy is his leadership. Behind this commanding presence was always kindness, dedication, motivation, and support (W. I. Lutterschmidt, pers. comm.). Vic’s father, Joseph V. Hutchison (1895–1984), was supervisor of the local telephone company, owner of an electrical and plumbing company in Blakely, Georgia, Superintendent of Maintenance at Fort Benning during World War II, and owned a sporting goods store in Columbus. He was also a taxidermist. His mother, Veva H. Hutchison (1904–1962), was a hospital admissions officer. Vic’s father was unable to make a living as a biologist as he would have liked but supported his son’s interest in reptiles. Victor Hutchison was born in Blakely on 15 June 1931. At twelve years of age he and friends started keeping snakes and other animals in his backyard zoo. His family visited St. Vincent Island off the Florida panhandle several times where they stayed in a hunting lodge and took field excursions to see the island’s wildlife. He remembers seeing the highest concentrations of Florida Cottonmouths (Agkistrodon conanti) than in any other place in the South. His interest in science and herpetology was derived from his father’s influence, friends in secondary school, and his Boy Scout experience (he made Eagle Scout in 1946). His heroes during high school were Ross Allen in Florida and Roger Conant in Philadelphia. As a senior in high school, he wrote Allen asking for a job. Allen replied he had none but referred him to an exclusive summer camp in Atlanta. Vic had to go to Silver Springs for special training, all expenses paid, where he caught his first alligator. Allen gave Vic homework in his library and had him work with employees to learn how to build cages and preserve specimens. Allen shipped live animals to the camp each summer. He spent two weeks at Vic’s summer camp in 1948 helping him teach young people about reptiles and inspiring him to be a herpetologist (Fig. 1). He was also Vic’s first mentor. Vic entered North Georgia (military) College in 1948 and graduated in 1952. He became Battalion Executive Officer of his ROTC unit and President of the Science Club. During each year of college he served as a nature study counselor at the Fritz Orr Summer Camp in Atlanta. After graduation, he was on active duty in the U.S. Army for two years. During that time he graduated from officer infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia, as a Second Lieutenant and subsequently trained infantry soldiers at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. He later served in the Medical Service Corps until he was shipped to Korea. During his eight months in-country (November 1953–May 1954), he was Commander of the Ambulance Company in the Third Infantry Division. His unit worked behind the front lines ferrying injured soldiers to hospitals. The closest he got to combat was a visit to the Demilitarized Zone in December 1953 (Fig. 2). After his discharge from active duty, he stayed in the active Army Reserves for 30 years and retired as a Colonel in September 1982. While in the reserves, he graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1976 and became Detachment Commander of the local reserve unit when he was at the University of Rhode Island and a Division Leader in the 95 Maneuver Command while he was at the University of Oklahoma. He married Theresa Dokos, his wife of 66 years, in December of 1952 while on active duty. Their daughter, Victoria (b. 1955), was a teacher and administrator and served two terms in the Oklahoma state legislature. Their son John (b. 1957) is a civil and environmental engineer. Two Fig. 1. Eighteen-year-old Victor Hutchison (center) holding a Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor) for a class at the Fritz Orr Nature Camp, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1948 with Fritz Orr (left) and Ross Allen (right). Courtesy of V. H. Hutchison.