News Articles - Marilyn (Drown) Shutter
Duluth News-Tribune (MN) - November 27, 2005
Deceased Name: Marilyn Shutter: Community mourns loss of slain grandmother
When Marilyn Shutter led 65 people at Trinity Free Lutheran in a rousing version of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" on Tuesday night, her husband, Ted, and the 15-year-old grandson they had adopted were in the audience.
But by Thursday night, on Thanksgiving, Marilyn Shutter was dead, the boy was jailed and the community was mourning.
Marilyn and Ted Shutter lived on a small farm east of Bemidji, Minn., raising beef cattle. He works in maintenance for Bemidji public schools. For 30 years, she worked for the hospital, and since 1987, for a division of the hospital, Bemidji Medical Equipment.
"She just had a way with people," said Wendy Hempel, who worked with Shutter. "When you are providing medical equipment, you are working with a lot of elderly people or people in serious health situations, and they always appreciate a kind person and someone who understands."
Manager Gary Johnson said Marilyn Shutter was his first hire in 1987, as a reimbursement manager.
Shutter also was certified to work with patients, fitting prosthetics on women who had breast-cancer surgery, for example.
"This will affect our patient population, because Marilyn has worked with people for years, building day-to-day relationships. So this will be affecting us for years to come."
________________________________________
Deceased Name: Marilyn Shutter: COMMUNITY MOURNS SLAIN GRANDMOTHER GRANDSON HELD AFTER THANKSGIVING SHOOTING
BEMIDJI, Minn. -- When Marilyn Shutter led 65 people at Trinity Free Lutheran in a rousing version of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" on Tuesday night, her husband, Ted, and the 15-year-old grandson they had adopted were in the audience.
But by Thursday night, Marilyn Shutter was dead, the boy was jailed, and the community was mourning a family that appears to have disintegrated on Thanksgiving Day.
Her friends and family described Shutter, 55, to the Grand Forks Herald as a talented person who gave herself to a variety of efforts in a community where she had lived since she was a child.
Shutter was a regular at the community music nights at Trinity. In the past two years, she took up the Dobro and liked the steel guitar so much she had just bought two new ones.
Tuesday night at Trinity, the regular musicians sat in a circle, taking turns with songs. When it was her turn, Shutter got everyone involved, said Mary Ann Lewis.
"She had a little brown paper bag filled with spoons, little metal cups, measuring cups," Lewis said. "She passed them around, and they were supposed to make noise in time with the song."
Lewis said Shutter did that regularly, "in old folks' homes, with senior citizens. She was really into this. She was a wonderful piano player. Really a group leader, and everyone loved her for it."
Marilyn and Ted Shutter lived on a small farm east of Bemidji, raising beef cattle. Ted Shutter works in maintenance for Bemidji public schools. For 30 years, Marilyn Shutter worked for North Country Regional Hospital and, since 1987, worked for a division of the hospital, Bemidji Medical Equipment.
Shutter was a preacher's kid and played piano in church. Her father served Nazarene congregations in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.
Friends said the Shutters hunted deer each fall and had several guns in the house. This year, the grandson "had gotten a really nice buck," said Paul Hokuf, who had worked with Shutter at the Beltrami County Fair. "And he was so proud of that."
Trinity church is only a few miles from the Red Lake Indian Reservation along state Highway 89. At a music night in March, Shutter talked to the Pioneer Press about the Red Lake school shooting by a 16-year-old that took 10 lives.
"I had a father and I had a church full of fathers who cared about me when I was growing up," Shutter said then. "What's been going on in my mind the last couple days is that maybe we ... haven't taken enough time to get to know kids. Our churches are huge. Our schools are huge. Our communities are huge. And kids need adults that think they're terrific. Maybe I can do a better job of that."
On Thursday, Shutter, with her husband and grandson, celebrated Thanksgiving with other family members.
About 9:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, Ted Shutter called the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office to say Marilyn had been shot. She was pronounced dead at North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji.
Shutter's grandson was taken into custody in connection with the shooting, according to Beltrami County Sheriff Keith Winger, who released little other information.
St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Date: November 27, 2005
Edition: St. Paul
Page: B8