Kathleen Hutton, 80
Kathleen Hutton, a runway model in London in the 1950s who later worked as a professional chef and property manager and also had a knitting store in Bridgehampton, died at home in East Hampton on Feb. 1 of lymphoma. She wss 80 years old and had been ill for three years.
Known as Kay, she was “a beautiful and strong woman who overcame many odds and never gave up,” her family wrote. “Sophisticated and intelligent, she had a great eye for aesthetics and style.” A loving mother, she was reserved in many ways, but had a “very British sense of humor,” they said.
Ms. Hutton was born in Aldershot, England, on July 2, 1936, to Col. Frederick Hutton M.B.E. and the former Ethel Linford. Her father’s military service took the family to Palestine when she was a young child, but upon the start of World War II, she and her mother and brother were evacuated by boat and train to South Africa. She often told stories of the trip and of being on the deck of the ship watching neighboring ships get bombed by the Germans, her family recalled.
In South Africa, the family lived in Durban, where she began school. They were reunited with her father after the war and repatriated to England, where she continued her studies at country schools, before moving to London to begin a modeling career at the age of 18. She worked for such top designers as Hardie Amies and Christian Dior, modeling throughout Europe and once for the queen of England.
In 1967, Ms. Hutton was hired to take part in a Best of Britain Trade Show and sailed to the United States on the Queen Mary. During her first summer here, friends took her to Fire Island, where she met her future husband, Steve Friedman.
They were married in 1968 and had two children, Daesha and Simon. In 1978, the family moved to Paris for Mr. Friedman’s work. While there, she took the Grande Diplome at the Cordon Bleu, studied at Ecole Lenotre, and worked in a small restaurant bakery.
When she returned to America three years later, she worked for a year with the chef Antoine Bouterin at Le Perigord in Manhattan.
Pursuing another interest, she went on to design knitting patterns for home knitting magazines.
She was divorced in 1984 and moved to East Hampton with her children, purchasing a house on Dayton Lane. Once settled in, they acquired a West Highland terrier puppy that she named Milou. “The little dog was a terror to anyone that rang the doorbell, but could do no wrong in Kay’s eyes,” her children wrote. Milou remained her beloved companion for years after her children left home. In 1995, she bought a house on Sammy’s Beach Road, where she lived for the rest of her life.
Her careers “never ceased to evolve,” her children wrote. She opened a knitting store in Bridgehampton, was a partner in other retail businesses, and worked as a professional chef, property manager, and for East Hampton Town’s Building and Information Technology Departments.
As a member of the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society, Ms. Hutton took pride in coordinating the children’s toy department at the organization’s Bargain Box thrift store and sorting through the mountains of toy donations received each year.
She is survived by her children, Daesha Friedman of Santiago, Chile, and Simon Friedman of Twisp, Wash., and by two grandchildren and her former husband, who lives in New York.
A memorial service will be held in late March or early April, when her children will be able to return to East Hampton.