Clifton Douglas Rutledge of Marion
MARION - Clifton Douglas Rutledge, 82, of Marion, passed away at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018 at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion.
Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 21 in the Goddard Chapel at Rose Hill Cemetery in Marion. A reception will follow at the Quality Inn & Suites, 2600 W. Main St., Marion.
Clifton was born on Aug. 20, 1935 in Lebo, Kansas to Clifton Henderson and Effie A. (Haffner) Rutledge. He married Sylvia Y. McAlavey on Dec. 18, 1959 in Manhattan, Kansas. She survives of Marion.
In June of 1961, Clifton received his bachelor's degree in architecture (five-year program) at Kansas State University.
During this time, he also worked for the state of Kansas Architecture Department in Topeka, Kansas and the campus department as a draftsman.
After receiving his master's degree in architecture from Kansas State University, Clifton began his teaching career, developing a two-year architectural program working with the University of Michigan at Delta College, University Center, Michigan.
In 1965, Clifton joined Southern Illinois University Carbondale's campus in the architecture technology program.
In June of 1993, after 28 years, he retired as an associate professor in the architecture technology department.
He served in the United States Army and was a member of the Kansas National Guard.
Clifton became a member of the Lebo Methodist Church as a teenager when he accepted Christ as his savior, and later transferred his membership to the Marion Methodist Church.
He was also a member of the Egyptian Rifle and Pistol Club of Marion, National NRA, and the Kansas State Alumni Association.
He began his art career as a young child. Besides drawing, he enjoyed working in water colors, pencil and pen and ink.
He has shown art in Manhattan, Kansas, Springfield, Carbondale, Mount Vernon and Bay City, Michigan.
He enjoyed collecting marbles, LP records of the '50s and '60s, collecting antique guns, bicycling and working on the family genealogy.
He volunteered with the Marion Jaycees Swamp Fox Track Program and other community programs. After retirement, he enjoyed traveling.
In addition to his wife, survivors include a son, John Douglas Rutledge, of Beijing, China; a daughter, Mary Ann (Carl) Hayden of Amherst, Virginia; grandson, Carl Douglas Hayden, of Amherst, Virginia; sisters Martha Ann Mark and Phyllis Greene of Kansas; and several nieces and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents.
Memorial donations are suggested to the Goddard Chapel Renovation Fund and will be accepted at Mitchell-Hughes Funeral Home, 800 N. Market St., Marion, IL 62959.
For more information or to sign the memorial guest register, visit www.hughesfuneralhomes.com.