Mathilda Louise Cutler

Mathilda was born on August 29, 1932, Wall Lake, Iowa, and was the youngest child of Teleaus “Theodore” Bruns and Taalke “Tollie” (Gerdes) Bruns.

Tillie attended high school in Wall Lake, Iowa, and graduated in 1949. She then went on to attend NBT Business School in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1950.

While attending NBT Business School in Sioux City, Iowa, she met Elword “Ed” Cutler. They married in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 30, 1951 and were married for 63 years before the Lord called her beloved husband home on January 5, 2015.

During their marriage, Ed and Tillie lived in several places, Hawaii, Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota and Florida. In each location, Tillie was busy raising a family and at times working outside the home. She worked at Kapolani Hospital in Honolulu (’55-’58) and Wildon Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa (’62-’65) in admitting and on the switchboard. While in Sioux City, Iowa, she worked as a secretary for NCR for 12 years, followed by a short term with an accounting firm and then with Sperry Corporation in Minneapolis while Ed was attending Concordia College.

At each location, Ed and Tillie were active members of a local Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, most recently Messiah Lutheran Church in Tampa, Florida. Throughout the years, she was active in each congregation in some capacity, helping with youth activities in Sioux City, serving in altar guild, attending Bible study whenever available, serving as a member of the school board for Concordia Middle School in Tampa and attending Lutheran Women’s Missionary League with their district and national gatherings. Tillie would also accompany Ed on evangelism calls for many years.

Tillie was an avid reader and instilled that love of reading and books to her children. The public library will miss her!

Nothing was more important to Tillie than God’s love for her through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and having her family know about God’s love for them. This is quite evident in the lives of her children as all three of her sons eventually became pastors and her daughters serve in their churches in a variety of ways. Hospitality was the main spiritual gift bestowed on Tillie as she opened her home to countless people, including those going through vicarage at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Sioux City. Those seminary students could count on a Sunday dinner each week. With Ed’s gift of evangelism, one could say Ed and Tillie were a tag team. Ed would bring in a neighbor or stranger and feed them God’s word and Tillie would shower them with food and a listening ear. Tillie touched the lives of many people around the table. Her listening ear and sage counsel saved many lives from heartache and pain, and instilled confidence to live life to its fullest. She did not mince words. She would say it the way that she saw it, plain and simple. One of her favorite sayings was, “I didn’t say it, God said it, read it for yourself!” Always pointing to the final authority in all matters, God’s Word. For her wisdom and example, we will be eternally grateful.

Survivors include her children: Cathy (William) Most of Tampa, Florida; Kimberli (Dana) Jensen of Lakeland, Florida; Paul (Sue) Cutler of Elgin, Illinois; Mark (Joann) Cutler of Kalispell, Montana; daughter-in-law Judith Cutler of Meridian, Idaho; 18 grandchildren; 15 great grandchildren; 4 step great grandchildren; 2 siblings Fred Bruns of Sac City, Iowa and Ann Cowlham of Odebolt, Iowa; many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by husband, Elword Cutler, son, Robert G. Cutler; grandson, Peter Cutler; brothers Burt, Walt and Ted Bruns and sister Sena Siebrecht.