Kevin S. Cutler, 56, of Chocowinity and formerly of Ocracoke, died Sunday (June 9) at Duke University Hospital in Durham.
A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday (June 13) at the Tar Heel Variety Theater located at 485 Carrow Road, Chocowinity. The family will receive friends prior to the celebration, starting at 3 p.m., and other times at the home of Kevin’s father Ernest H. Cutler, 66 Mildred’s Road, Blounts Creek, Beaufort County.
Born Dec. 15, 1962, in Beaufort County, Kevin was a son of Ernest Cutler, long-serving principal of Ocracoke School, and the late Patricia Ann Smith Cutler.
A1981 graduate of Ocracoke High School, Kevin continued his education at Beaufort County Community College where he received an associate degree in science.
A prolific writer, in 1986 he published “A Bit of Ocracoke” that focused on the island past and present.
For years, he worked for the Washington Daily News as a staff writer. He wrote a series of columns including articles about his life with cancer, which was therapy for him and others fighting the disease.
Under the auspices of the Daily News, he helped launch “The Ocracoker,” a weekly island newspaper that included his column “Ocracoke Yesteryear” and his photography, a lifelong passion, according to islander Trudy Austin.
Brownie Futrell, former owner and publisher of the Washington Daily News, offered the following comments:
“I have lost a family member in the passing of Kevin Scott Cutler. But it is not just my newspaper family who is suffering. Kevin was welcomed into countless families all across the Pamlico area, connecting with each on a very personal level through his heartfelt contributions to the Washington Daily News.
“Kevin was one of the most kind, caring and compassionate people I have ever had the privilege to know. And these attributes shown clearly in his reporting. He embraced each story source he encountered, and he had the unique ability to share those stories with his readers in a style that placed the readers in middle of each story.
“When Kevin was diagnosed with cancer, he made the remarkable decision to share his journey with his extended family of readers, touching us all with his courage, grace and dignity. Kevin Scott Cutler left everything he touched better than he found it, the true measure of a life well lived. Today we celebrate that life and the blessing that he passed our way.”
Kevin also was also a reporter for the Coastland Times and the Beaufort Hyde News.
His love for children led him to working as a teacher’s assistant at Chocowinity Primary School.
He was a great history buff and, in addition to writing and photography, enjoyed musicals, theater, beauty pageants, reading a good book, creating beautiful flower arrangements and he absolutely loved to make people laugh with his quick wit and fun sense of humor.
In addition to his father, Kevin is survived by a brother Gregory “Keith” Cutler Sr. and his wife Kathy of Buxton, a nephew Gregory Keith Cutler, Jr. of Denver, Colorado; a niece, Patricia Kathryn Cutler of Frisco, and an aunt Mary Francis Peters of Greenville.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly asks that memorial contributions be made to Friends of the Brown Library, 122 Van Norden Street, Washington, NC 27889, or to Marion L. Shepard Cancer Center, c/o Patient Assistance Fund, 1209 Brown Street, Washington, NC 27889.
Online condolences may be offered to the family by visiting the Paul Funeral Home & Crematory of Washington website: paulfuneralhome.com
