Eva Lund Utter
Horn and Thomes, Inc. Funeral Home

Eva Lund Utter, 93, a resident of Pawling for over 71 years, died peacefully on Sunday, September 23, at her much loved home on Harmony Road.

Eve graduated from Beacon High School, worked her way her way through New Paltz Normal School and graduated in 1936 with a degree in elementary education. She began her teaching career in the Woodinville two-room school house in 1936. In 1940, she married Kenneth Utter of Pawling in a garden wedding at her parent’s home in Hopewell Junction. They were blessed to share 55 years of marriage until Ken’s death on September 26, 1995.

She set aside her teaching career in order to become a full-time homemaker and a mother of three. In addition to raising their children and working as a farmer’s wife on a working dairy farm, she found the time to be involved in many outside interests. She contributed her time and efforts as an active member of the Pawling Health Association, Pawling Garden Club, Pawling Grange, and the Historical Society of Quaker Hill and Pawling. She served her church, The Central Baptist Church of Pawling as a Sunday school teacher and Junior Choir director, in later years she became a member of Christ Church on Quaker Hill. She loved living on the farm which offered countless opportunities to pursue her deep love and interests in wildflowers and birds.

Eve and Ken lovingly and proudly raised three children. Their children are Susan Utter Johnsen and her husband Norman, Rebecca Utter Lapp and her husband Michael, and her devoted son Kenneth “Jim” Utter Jr., who all reside on the Harmony Road farm. It was in their role as grandparents that they found endless pride and joy. Their grandchildren include Kenneth Utter, Glenn Utter, Ross Utter, Jillian Utter, Christopher Lapp, Andrew Lapp, James Lapp, Christian Johnsen, Elizabeth Johnsen Benson, and Ellen Johnsen Tembruell. Four great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews also survive.

She and Ken filled their retirement years by opening their home as a welcoming gathering place to all. Together, they continuously modeled and instilled life-long traits of honesty, loyalty, citizenship and hard work. Eve was at her happiest planning and cooking for family get-togethers at their home and on the farm’s Brown Hill. Her reputation for homemade molasses cookies brought both hungry grandchildren as well as friends to the house on baking day.

Born in her parent’s home in Stormville, on April 3, 1914, she was one of 11 children born to Alfred E. and Susie Hunt Lund. Four brothers and fours sister pre-deceased her: Edward Lund, Emerson Lund, Eugene Lund, and Everett James Lund, Emily Lund, Edythe Ginn, E. Cora Andrews, and Evelyn Trainor. Eve is survived by two additional sisters, Eleanor Wright and her husband Herbert, Estelle Russell and her husband Lawrence, three sisters-in-law, Mildred Martin, Bette Lund, and Marion Utter, and one brother in-law, Thomas Trainor. She is also survived by Fernanda Zappia, a longtime friend and in later years a caregiver, whose care allowed her to remain in her beloved home surrounded by her family.

At her request, there will be no calling hours; however her family will welcome friends and relatives at Lankler Hall at Christ Church on Quaker Hill in Pawling on Thursday afternoon September 27 from 2pm to 5pm. Arrangements are in charge of Horn & Thomes Funeral Home. Her burial will be private at the family plot in the Patterson Cemetery.

As a teacher, mother, and grandmother and recognizing the importance of books in children’s lives, she has requested that donations be made in her name for the purchase of children’s books at the Pawling Free Library. Contributions may also be made in her memory to the Community Resource Center of Pawling.