Colleen Tuttle
1940 — 2019
Colleen Anne (Sullivan) Tuttle, 78, wife to one, mother to four – plus the multitudes she took under her wing – sister of one, friend to thousands, passed over to heaven on Saturday, March 23, 2019.
Colleen had a contagious personality, spreading love, kind-ness, and positivity to all she met. Born Oct. 25, 1940, she was raised in Elgin where she graduated from St. Boniface High School. She and her husband of 59 years, Gary, raised four boys, mostly in Norfolk, while she and Gary sold class rings, graduation announcements, and caps and gowns and coordinated fundraising campaigns for schools in Northeast and Eastern Nebraska. They moved to Riverside Lakes in Waterloo, NE, in the late 1980s where they were very active in the lake and church communities and added thousands to their list of lifelong friends.
In their later years, Colleen and Gary moved to Springfield, NE where she served on the library board, volunteered at church, and she and Gary continued to spread love and joy. Colleen was renowned for her cooking: multiple churches, relatives, and friends of her boys often demanded she make her Italian beef, lasagna, biscuits and gravy, fried chicken and coleslaw salad, demands which she would happily indulge.
Colleen loved music, particularly Willie Nelson, traveling, and spending time with her family and friends, and shared her husband’s Husker obsession. Colleen continued to work throughout her life; she was extremely proud of her service working for the Red Cross call center in Omaha from its opening until the day it closed. Colleen worked at Hy-Vee up until the time the illness which would take her physical body made it impossible. Colleen left behind a loving husband, four sons, five grandsons, one granddaughter, one brother, and several daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, and too many friends and admirers to note. She is preceded in death by her parents and one grandson. She will be missed every day, but will be seen in every smile and act of kindness.
A wake will be held at the Springfield United Methodist Church in Springfield, NE on Sunday, March 31, 2019 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The memorial service will be held at the Springfield Methodist Church on Monday, April 1, at 11 a.m. with lunch to immediately follow. Interment will be at a date to be determined in the Laurel Cemetery in Laurel, NE. Memorials to the family at PO Box 272, Springfield, NE 68059. Leave online condolences at www.NebraskaCremation.com.
