Published on December 17, 2025 3:50 pm
Last Updated on December 17, 2025 3:51 pm
Dorothy Elizabeth Cutright, 95, passed away at 8:34 p.m. on Tuesday December 16, 2025, at her residence.
Funeral services are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at Barkley Funeral Chapel in Greenup. A one-hour visitation will be held prior to the service from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., also at the chapel. The burial will follow in the Toledo Cemetery.
Born on December 30, 1929, at the family home in Cottonwood Township, Cumberland County, IL, she was the first child of Fred Raymond and Violet Elizabeth Butler McCandlish. She married George Leo Cutright on August 29, 1948, at Cottonwood Methodist Church while he was stationed at Fort Knox, KY. In 1950, they returned to Illinois where his 37-year career with the General Electric Company began. The family lived in Ohio, Monterrey, Mexico; Rio de Janeiro; and Miami. In each place she made a home and acted as a hostess for many company events. In 1967, Dorothy graduated from Eastern Illinois University as an English major with high honors. She was a member of Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Alpha Theta, and Sigma Tau Delta Honoraries. Because she chose to be home and care for the younger son, Neil R, a victim of muscular dystrophy, she taught for only a few years in Ohio and Monterrey. In 1983, Neil joined his parents and siblings, Elizabeth Anne and George Jr. as EIU graduates. After his death in 1984, she and George established the Neil R. Cutright Memorial Scholarship at the Eastern Illinois University Foundation to award full tuition and fees to graduates of Cumberland High School. In 2016, Dorothy was named to the Eastern Illinois University Foundation. Continuing her mother’s interest in local history, she edited The Second Edition, Cemeteries of Cumberland County, Illinois. She was a member of Cottonwood United Methodist Church and was a member of church women’s organizations almost all her adult life. Three times she was a delegate to Annual Conference. She served as president and treasurer of the Toledo United Methodist Women. Dorothy was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary in Toledo, the Cumberland County Farm Bureau, and Secretary for the Ann Crooker St. Clair Chapter, NSDAR, in Effingham. She was a Cub Scout Den Mother.
She is survived by daughter Ellizabeth Anne Sparks Cutright, of Mattoon; and son George L. Cutright, Jr., of Joliet; and by granddaughters Lori Anne Sparks (Scott, husband) Shull, of Toledo, and Kristina Lynn (Martin, Husband) Van Pelt, of Channahon, Illinois; and grandson George III, of Alabama. Kristina’s children: Preston, Elijah, Caroline, and Kurstiana, survive, as do George III’s three children. A great-grandson, Taylor (Bayle Smith, wife) Ring, and children Charlie, Lincoln and Ava, live in Brownstown, Illinois. Other survivors are sisters Carolyn J. McCandlish (widow of David W.) Auger, of Toledo, and Donna M. McCandlish (Mrs. Philip) Barnes, of Manchester, Tennessee. A brother, Bruce W. McCandlish, of Toledo preceded her on July 16, 2025, and George a much-treasured husband died on May 8, 2019, at their rural Toledo home.
Memorials may be made to Cottonwood United Methodist Church and to Eastern Illinois University Foundation for the Neil R. Cutright Memorial Scholarship.
Online condolences can be expressed at www.barkleyfuneralchapels.com