Longtime Figure at Andover Thrift Shop, Belmont Teacher, Dies at 93

Dorothea (Evers) "Dottie" Rutter, 93, a longtime resident of Andover, one of the early members of the Andona Society and an enduring figure at the Andover Thrift Shop for more than five decades, died at Lawrence General Hospital after a brief illness, states the obituary on the Conte Funeral Home website.

Friends called her a "classy dame" and a "good listener." 

She was born in Arlington, moved with her parents and four siblings to Kentucky, and attended school there during the Great Depression. Rutter performed as a traveling puppeteer at one point. After high school, she returned to Boston to continue school. 

Eventually, she moved to Belmont, where she taught in the Belmont Public School system. 

She met her husband, Harold A. Rutter, Jr., from Andover, on a blind date and married him in 1949, after which they lived in Andover.  

Read the deeply moving and interesting obituary here. 

Dottie is survived by her son, Stephen B. Rutter and his wife Deb Lancaster-Rutter, of Andover; her daughter Jacqueline Rutter and her husband Andrew Gully, of New York City; granddaughter Stacy Solomon, her husband Michael Solomon, and their daughter Kyla, of Plaistow, N.H.; grandson Michael Thresher, his wife Jill Thresher, and their daughter Sophie, of Georgetown; grandson Matthew Thresher and his wife, Cherish Thresher and their sons Luke and William, of North Royalton, OH; granddaughters Jocelyn and Hanna Gully, of Washington, D.C.; grandson Dylan Gully, of Medford; her brother, Paul C. Ramsay and his wife Marilyn, of Walpole and their two children and three grandchildren; her sister, Nancy P. Ramsay, of Arlington and her three children and five grandchildren.

She was predeceased by both her husbands, her daughter Judith, and brothers Frank M. Ramsay and Lawrence A. Ramsay.

Calling hours at the Conte Funeral Home, 28 Florence Street, Andover, will be 3-6 p.m. on Friday, July 18. A private burial service will be held in West Parish Cemetery in Andover Saturday at 11 a.m.