Dr. Richard A. Kutcipal MD, age 88, of Petoskey passed away peacefully at home on July 20, 2018. His life will be remembered and celebrated during a Funeral Mass that is planned for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 24th at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church; the service will be led by Fr. Dennis Stilwell.
Visitation will be held at Stone Funeral Home on Monday evening from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Interment will take place in Greenwood Cemetery. Following the service the family will receive friends at Stafford’s Perry Hotel for a luncheon. He was a “New Year’s Baby”, born on January 1, 1930, in Grand Rapids, MI.
Dick graduated from Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids. He attended Aquinas College before transferring to the University of Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1954.
He also completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at U of M. To fulfill his military obligation, he served two years at Madigan Army Hospital in Tacoma, WA. In 1954, he married Babs McKnight at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in East Grand Rapids. They had 5 children.
He was often seen cheering on his children at sporting events or watching ski races in the freezing cold. In 1963, he joined Dr. Jack Postle in OB/GYN at the Burns Clinic. After a long career of delivering babies and of caring for the women in Northern Michigan, he retired at the age of 72.
He had a penchant for remembering most of his thousands of patients. He enjoyed music, participating in the Northern Michigan Chorale, under the direction of Don Large and was a member of the St Francis choir for many years. He had also been a member of Rotary and volunteered on the Board of the Community Chest.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Babs; daughter Kathy (Phil) of Canadian Lakes, MI; son Rick (Kandyce) of Loveland, CO; son David (Kristin) of Boulder, CO; and daughter Libby of Seattle, WA. Dick is also survived by 5 grandchildren, Jason and Matt Reglin, Cydney and Sam Kutcipal, and Andrew Kutcipal. He is also survived by a sister, Mary Ann Saulcy, of Bloomington, IL and a sister-in-law, Dot Fredenburg of Rochester, NY, and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Andrew and Stella Kutcipal; his parents-in-law, Marguerite and ST McKnight; and a son, ST Kutcipal (1981). His family would like to thank the many people and caregivers who helped Dick especially near the end of his life, including the staff at Independence Village, his many physicians, Hospice of Northwest Michigan, Kelli Wagenschutz and especially Sharon Gawlinski, his long-time care-giver and friend. In lieu of flowers, friends wishing to remember Dick through a charitable contribution may wish to consider the ST Kutcipal Scholarship Fund at McLaren Hospital Foundation or St Francis Xavier Catholic Church.
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