The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Melanie Sharpe-Lessen, Quill Reporter
Alta Hutchison
You may have heard Alta's name in The Quill, a few weeks back, in a story about the Operation Care facility in LaHarpe. Alta, and her husband Jack are large contributors of their time for the center. The two attend the Agape Christian Fellowship, where the operation took root.
Alta has spent the majority of her married life living in Pekin, with her husband, Jack. Alta worked as a service representative for Ameritech for 27 years and was offered early retirement in the early nineties. She decided to take it so she would be able to move closer to her daughter Rena Willey so she could be an active part of her grandchildren's lives.
Alta and Jack moved to La Harpe in 1993 and built their home on Second Avenue. Alta was an active part in raising her five grandchildren that just happened to live next door. Now that the five children have grown, Alta has become very active in volunteer work.
Besides donating her time to Operation Care, she works one day a week at the Carthage Red Cross. She said that it has been expectantly busy since the Hurricane Katrina. Alta also organizes all the blood drives for La Harpe and Blandinsville. Recently she has started the Phresis Program, which removes platelets from the blood donated, and used for cancer patients. The platelets are then shipped to the Cancer Center in Peoria. The drives alternate from whole blood donation to Phresis from month to month. October 28th is the next Phresis drive here in La Harpe.
Besides volunteer work, Alta also works at the Memorial Hospital in Carthage, as a sub, where she does secretarial work.
Besides her daughter Rena, Alta has two other children, Vonda, of Troy and Curt of South Pekin. Alta has a total of eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren on the way. She has been told she spoils them, but she doesn't care.
Alta loves the outdoors and thoroughly enjoys sitting in her backyard as much as possible. When she has time she also enjoys quilting and knitting. Jack and Alta's lifelong dream is to get out of the Illinois winter and go south. This year "God-willing" they will make the trip to Lake Placid in Florida for the duration of the winter.