This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A woman with a landmark role in Utah journalism died Friday.
Susan Beckwith Dutson, 71, died of a cerebral hemorrhage Friday, according to her obituary. She had been the editor and publisher of the Millard County Chronicle Progress, which her grandfather had owned, and the first woman to become president of the Utah Press Association.
"She was born with ink in her blood," said Shellie Dutson, her daughter-in-law and co-publisher of the Chronicle Progress. Susan Dutson's grandfather and father had owned the paper before her, and she bought it back after it had changed hands following her father's death.
"If she had a cause, then she fought it tooth and nail," Shellie Dutson said, pointing to how her mother-in-law was one of the major reasons the MX Missile did not come to the west desert. "She took them head-on."
Susan Dutson was an "incredible person, mother, sister, champion of underdogs, and community activist," her obituary reads. "Her extensive family and friends mourn her loss and reel from the weight of all the things she was single-handily able to keep together."
She was born April 18, 1943, to Frank and Wanda Peterson Beckwith. After her marriage to Ray L. Dutson, with whom she had three children, Susan Dutson opened her home to more than 30 foster children, "hoping to help them to a better life," according to the obituary.
She was an avid reader, a fan of the Utah Jazz and bull riding, admired English comedies and was fascinated by Native American culture. Though she traveled the globe, from Egypt to Australia, she was also well versed "in the knowledge of the Delta area," her obituary reads. "Who will be able to recount the stories now she is gone?"
Her viewing is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Nickle Mortuary, 190 S. Center St. in Delta. Her funeral is set for 11 a.m. Friday at the Delta Utah West Stake Center, 188 N. Main St. in Hinckley.
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