MICHAEL DUTCHER
Aug. 9, 1944–Feb. 20, 2024
Michael W. Dutcher, born Aug. 9, 1944, passed away at Weston County Health Services hospital on Feb. 20, 2024, from pneumonia and dementia complications.
He is survived by his wife “Lee” and “Buddy”’ of 60 years as of Jan. 20, 2024. He is also survived by his son, Kenneth (Sharon) Dutcher; daughter, Dee Anna (Tom) Pietz; granddaughter, Tiffany Pietz (ex-husband Kris Ronholm); his grandson, Travis (Maria) Pietz; his dear baby great-granddaughter Harper; and two sisters, Shirley Haley and Nancy Bair.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Kenneth and Gladys Dutcher; sister, Jean Buffington; and brother, Charles Dutcher.
Mike was a very intelligent and industrious man that made a living working for himself, owning his own business and in the 1980s owned a business in Spearfish, South Dakota, that he partnered with his brother Charles. He was a very determined and hard-working individual that lived life to the fullest, which made him such an interesting and fun person to sit down and talk to. There wasn’t anything he wasn’t well versed on, and he would make you laugh the entire time you visited with him. He had many friends and made them everywhere he went on this journey of life.
Lee (his wife) suffered two strokes and ended up in the hospital in Newcastle for months and a nursing home in Rapid City, South Dakota, for several months. He went there every day to visit her and everyone fell in love with them as a couple. He spent the last year living in assisted living with his wife at Mondell Heights in Newcastle. As his daughter, I grew very close to my dad and for the first time in my life understood how much he loved all of us in his own way. A special thank you to my mom’s sister Nellie and her husband Willard that helped care for my parents for the last 10 years with such love and compassion. My mother and I and all of our family and friends are going to miss him terribly, but he is definitely in a better place and we will all get to enjoy his stories and share his laughter again.
Cards can be mailed to Lee Dutcher, 106 E Main St, Newcastle, WY. A Celebration of Life will take place in July this year as a memorial service in honor of what would have been his 80th birthday.
