Philip Wickham Tuthill (aka Poppy, Phil, or Bud), 89

BOWERS BEACH - Philip Wickham Tuthill (aka Poppy, Phil, or Bud), died peacefully in his home, Monday, Nov. 10, 2008. He was 89. Mr. Tuthill was born March 4, 1919 in Mattituck, N.Y., to the late Philip R. Tuthill and Helen Wilcox. He served in the United States Army Air Corp from 1941 to 1945. In civilian life, Mr. Tuthill engaged in a broad range of commercial and civic activities. In addition to his primary vocation of farming, he was also at times a school teacher, a sanitation engineer, an elected public official, political gadfly, and longtime conscience of the Kent County Levy Court. For his civic efforts, Mr. Tuthill was recently awarded the Kent County Medal for Meritorious Service by Levy Court. Beginning in the late 1960s, he served two terms as the Mayor of Bowers Beach. As mayor, Mr. Tuthill established a close working relationship with the US Corps of Engineers to provide beach protection. In the 1970s, he ran unsuccessfully against Ruth Ann Minner for the 33rd District. He was a very proud member of the Kent County Regional Planning Commission. He was a past Elder of the Dover Presbyterian Church, a onetime member and treasurer of Saxton United Methodist Church, a member of the Farm Bureau, co-founder of the Frederica Senior Center, a lifetime member and treasurer of the Bowers Beach Fire Company, and member and elected official of the Murderkill Lions Club. With his wife, he worked at the State Fair as a member of the Grange and enjoyed square dancing. In his later years, Mr. Tuthill took classes at the University of Delaware and had accumulated credits sufficient for a Masters degree in history and political science. At the state and national level, Mr. Tuthill was a charter member of Common Cause, always kept a copy of the U.S. Constitution nearby, and read County and State Code Books in his spare time. Although he was a lifetime member of the Republican Party, he often said, in amazement, that his best friends happened to be Democrats. Philip Wickham Tuthill was preceded in death by his wife, Beverley Deane Osborne Tuthill in 1997, and his son, Ira R. Tuthill, in 1980. He is survived by his brother, S. Calvin Tuthill, of Bowers Beach; his children, Suzanne Tuthill, of Wilmington, Emily Tuthill Best Cramer, of Bowers Beach, Eileen Tuthill Howell, of Camden, Seth E. Tuthill, of Elizabethtown, Pa., and Penny Vlach, of Dover; eleven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; two nieces; and two nephews. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008, at the Presbyterian Church of Dover, 54 S. State Street, Dover. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday evening at Torbert Funeral Chapel South, 1145 E. Lebanon Road (Rt. 10), Dover. Burial will be in The Old Presbyterian Cemetery, Dover. In lieu of flowers, Mr. Tuthill requested donations be made to the Beverley O. Tuthill Scholarship Fund, The Round Table Club of Wyoming/Camden, c/o Treasurer, 67 Cantwell Drive, Dover, DE 19904; or the Ira R. Tuthill Memorial Fund, Presbyterian Church of Dover, 54 S. State Street, Dover, DE 19901-7312. Letters of condolence may be sent, and guestbook signed at www.torbertfuneral.com.