Alexia M Scutchfield

Alexia Mary (Sis) Scutchfield (nee Grzymalski) passed away peacefully with family by her side on Wednesday, November 27 after a courageous and hard-fought 5-year battle with ovarian cancer. Born on February 10, 1944 in Chicago to Cecelia and Joseph Grzymalski. With two older brothers (Joe and Larry), she picked up the nickname “Sis” almost immediately and was known as Sis throughout her entire life. Growing up on Chicago’s near south side, Sis was a graduate of Our Lady of Good Counsel Elementary and Visitation High School, and a debutante with the White Rose Society. Sis enjoyed a lot of independence as a teenager, running around the city along with her friends, cousins, and brother Larry. Their adventures included riding horses throughout Lincoln Park, swimming at 63rd Street Beach, and “exploring” the highrise buildings being built at the time. Set to attend Northern Illinois University after high school, her college dreams were dashed when her brother Joe had a major accident in California and the family directed her college money to his recovery. Instead, Sis went to work downtown at Dun and Bradstreet with her best friend, Margie. Sis met the love of her life, Jim Scutchfield, while vacationing with her family at Bass Lake, where he worked as a lifeguard. Married in January of 1964, they began a beautiful 50 year journey together raising their 3 kids “out in the country.” Sis immediately took to rural life picking up the creative arts of gardening, home improvement DIY, sewing, and crafting, as well as adopting the many animals that showed up at their old English Lake farm house. Married to a public school teacher and being the money manager of the family, Sis learned to stretch a buck through growing, canning, and cooking food for her family, making handmade Halloween costumes and dress clothes for the kids, and planning driving trips with a cooler full of sandwiches and a thermos of Kool Aid. She was an active Mom, engaged in everything from planning classroom and birthday parties to guiding 4-H projects, and playing catch with the kids. When the kids were old enough Sis went back to work outside of the home. She worked happily for 20+ years with the farmers of Porter County as an office manager and bookkeeper at Cargill (Heinold) Grain Elevator in Kouts and Aylesworth. Together with Jim (and his Building Trades class) they created their “dream home” complete with a pond and flower and vegetable gardens, where they loved to spend summer evenings watching the birds and swinging together beneath their “Big Oak Tree.” She loved hosting their kids and grandkids for holidays and summer gatherings with bonfires on the hill and swimming, sledding and skating on the pond. Sis was an active member at All Saints Catholic Church in San Pierre and a member of their Ladies’ Sodality. She was an avid gardener, a voracious reader, and enjoyed working on crossword puzzles. Sis is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Joel and Jill Scutchfield, daughter and son-in-law Jodi and Mark Thyen, and daughter-in-law Monika Scutchfield, grandsons Justin (Megan), James, and Diedrich, granddaughters Jennifer (Jack), Keiara, Amelia, Cecilia, Abigail, and Josephine, and great grandchildren Viviann, Rhett, Channing, Kurt, Pierce and Wells. Sis was preceded in death by her husband James Scutchfield, her son Jesse Scutchfield, her parents Cecelia and Joseph Grzymalski, her brothers Larry Grzymalski and Joseph Gray. Visitation will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, December 28, 2024, followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. at All Saints Catholic Church in San Pierre, IN. Private interment will be in St, Jacob Cemetery in North Judson, IN. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Sis’s honor can be made to the American Cancer Society or Habitat for Humanity.

Alexia M Scutchfield

February 10, 1944 - November 27, 2024