TUTTLE, Nina Lucille

The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona Sunday, March 2, 2003 Nina "Lucille" Sumner Tuttle, widow of Lt. Col. Donald Whitney Tuttle, USAF from Middletown, CT died Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003 in her hometown of Tuscaloosa, AL. She was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Tuscaloosa, AL on March 1, 2003. She was 89. She graduated from the University of Alabama and received a M.A. degree in Spanish and French. She also did graduate study at the Universidad Nacional de Mexico and at Arizona State University. In 1945 she was named Honorary Member of Sigma Delta Pi and was a member of Alpha Mu Gamma. She taught Spanish and French at the University of Alabama, and English at Jose de Diego School in Puerto Rico in the 1930's. She taught Spanish at Plattsburgh Air Force Base for New York State University in 1963 and 1964, and then later at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, AZ and at Phoenix College in 1965 and Grand Canyon University, both in Phoenix, AZ. She taught Spanish at Grand Canyon University from 1968 until she retired from teaching in 1976. She then took enrichment courses at Glendale Community College, and studied Biblical Greek at Grand Canyon College for one year. During WWII she married Donald Whitney Tuttle, the only son of Middletown's Tuttle Brick Company's Monroe Whitney Tuttle, in Topeka, KS in 1943, after having Don as her Spanish student at UA in 1938. Don was the love of her life, & she bore him three children after the war was over. Patricia, David, and Donna. During WWII Don became a pilot of a B-17, and was shot down over Lorient, France on his fifth mission, not many months after their marriage. He was held Prisoner-of-War at Stalag Luft 3 in Zagan, Germany (later became Poland) for two years. While he was a prisoner of war, she returned to her job in Miami, FL working as a translator for the U.S. Bureau of Postal Censorship. She was awarded the U.S. Certificate of Merit (which was a secret commendation during the war) for her work catching spy rings in the mail. During this time she also saw three German sailors walking down Biscayne Blvd. in Miami, FL, during WWII, who landing ashore in a 3 man submarine. (They were captured 3 days later with Miami theater tickets in their pockets, and bread from a Miami bakery was found aboard their sub.) She was widowed by Don at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, AZ in 1968, and she never remarried. She is survived by her sister Evelyn Richardson, of Tuscaloosa, AL, and her daughters Patricia T. Archibeque, (Jerry) of Clovis, NM; Donna T. Norris (Jack Jr.) of Tuscaloosa, AL; and her son David Whitney Tuttle, of Oceanside, CA. She is also survived by her five grandchildren, Robert W. Tuttle and Douglas W. Tuttle of Oceanside, CA; Jerald M. Archibeque of Albuquerque, NM; Colette A. Aburto, of Clovis, NM; and "Marie Elise" Norris, of Tuscaloosa, AL. She is also survived by four young great grandchildren, all now living in NM. She knew the UA football hero (who later became a famous Hollywood Cowboy Movie Star) Johnny Mack Brown personally, as his best friend boarded at her mother's house when Lucille was a child. She also once met George Washington Carver while he was working in his laboratory at the Tuskegee Institute. Saved at a young age, she lived her religious beliefs every day of her life, and tried to be the epitome of the perfect wife & mother, and roll model. (She always said: "Lord knows I tried!") She was an active member of every Southern Baptist Church she joined, serving as either a Sunday School teacher, W.M.U. leader, G.A. leader, Mother's Club leader, English-as-a-Second-Language teacher; Vacation Bible School leader, and church guest lecturer, best known for her "black light" (ultra violet light) chalk talks. She was a member of First Southern Baptist Church of Glendale, AZ from 1965 until 1996. A fluent linguist, she spoke English, Spanish, French, and a little Italian, and after retirement, studied Biblical Greek for one year in Arizona. She had many talents & enjoyed many crafts, including: sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, plastic canvas, oil painting, etc., sharing her talents with everyone. The wife of a career U.S. Air Force Pilot, she moved often with her family, creating homes wherever they moved: St. Louis, MO; Riverside, CA; Patterson, NJ; Houston, TX; Salina, KS; Huntsville, AL, Tarento, Italy; Lompoc, CA; Plattsburgh, NY; Phoenix, AZ; and Oceanside, CA. She returned to her hometown, Tuscaloosa in 1998, after the birth of her fifth grandchild. In her later years she became a victim of Alzheimers disease. She will be loved and missed by all. Courtesy of Pat Wilson.