Ludwig & Barbara Kuttner

Ludwig G. Kuttner, 89, and Barbara L. Kuttner, 87, passed away after 67 years of marriage within 48 hours of each other at their home in Alexandria, VA. Both succumbed to age-related illnesses. Mr. Kuttner died in his sleep on June 12, 2024. Mrs. Kuttner died in the evening of June 13, 2024.

Mr. and Mrs. Kuttner are survived by their six children - Ann of Philadelphia, Stephan (Anya Wayne) of Berkeley, CA, Nicholas (Mysia) of Alexandria, Elizabeth (Bobby Nitahara) of Phoenix, Jessica Lefkow (Chris)of Washington, DC, and Anthony (Michele) of Alameda, CA - plus 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Mr. Kuttner, the oldest of Stephan and Eva Kuttner’s nine children, was born Dec. 8, 1934 in Rome, Italy as a German refugee. In 1940, the family escaped the war in Europe and came to Washington, DC., where Mr. Kuttner, “Lou” to his friends, grew up.

Mrs. Kuttner, the daughter of Bergan and Dorothy Mackinnon, was born July 6, 1936 in Tuckahoe, NY and grew up Mt. Vernon, NY. She was educated at the Ursuline School in New Rochelle, then was a Fine Arts student for two years at the College of New Rochelle.

The couple wed in 1957, and for the next nine years, the military and civilian jobs had the Kuttner family moving to Oklahoma, North Carolina, New York, Washington, DC, Michigan, then finally back to Washington where the Kuttners remained for the next 25 years.

They retired to Hereford, AZ for the next 24 years before returning to the DC area in 2019.

His entire life, Mr. Kuttner was staunchly loyal and devoted to the groups and institutions that shaped him. He was a proud graduate of Gonzaga High School (’52) and Holy Cross College (’56), and spoke often and admiringly of the Jesuits who educated him.

A Navy ROTC scholar at Holy Cross, upon graduation Mr. Kuttner elected to serve as an artillery officer in the United States Marine Corps. Although he served just four years on active duty, and another two in the USMC Reserves, Mr. Kuttner’s devotion to the Corps and to his fellow Marines was unwavering for the remainder of his life.

When their children were young, household management commanded much of Mrs. Kuttner’s attention. In 1977, with childcare no longer demanding too many hours, Mrs. Kuttner combined two of her great passions – art and the world of books – and trained at the Library of Congress as a bookbinder. She then ran her own business creating custom bindings and restoring antique volumes until finally closing shop in the 2010s.

Everywhere they lived, Mr. and Mrs. Kuttner placed a priority on community involvement and civic engagement. Both were very active on of the board at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Washington, then at Our Lady of the Mountains in Sierra Vista, AZ, and finally were very pleased to be welcomed into the community at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Alexandria.

The Kuttner children all attended Blessed Sacrament Elementary School, Alice Deal Jr. High School and Woodrow Wilson (now Jackson-Reed) High School, and Mrs. Kuttner at various times served as PTA president for each of those schools.

The Kuttners were also deeply involved in establishing a thriving Christian Family Movement (CFM) with fellow Blessed Sacrament parishioners, and in CCD education for the community. The friendships the Kuttners built through CFM remained central to their lives for more than half a century.

In Arizona, Mrs. Kuttner spent more than a decade as a volunteer mediator for the Cochise County Family Conciliation Court. At the same time, Mr. Kuttner served on many boards, including Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona, and was proud to volunteer with the Cochise County Sherrif’s Assist Team. He was also honored to be inducted into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame in 2019. Together, the couple worked with others in the Sierra Vista community on the restoration and management of Carr House in the Coronado National Forest.

Mr. Kuttner began his professional life in Information Technology sales, first with IBM and then with Honeywell and later GE, focusing on distribution and manufacturing industries in New York and Detroit, and civil agencies in Washington, DC, where he settled in 1966.

The bulk of Mr. Kuttner’s career was spent as an executive with the federal government, first with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1975, Mr. Kuttner joined the Internal Revenue Service. Other than a 6-year return to the private sector in the early 1980s (“We had six kids in college,” he used to say), Mr. Kuttner spent the remainder of his career with the IRS, primarily in systems procurement and resource management.

Mr. Kuttner’s final IRS posting was in San Francisco, until his retirement in 1995. From there, he and his wife moved to their property in Cochise County, Arizona.

Mrs. Kuttner’s friends and family have said they knew no reader more avid. She loved the wide-open skies of the desert southwest, and took much joy from the mountain views and natural life surrounding the dream house the couple designed for their retirement.

Mr. Kuttner loved tennis, and was a constant reader in a wide range of topics and genres. Especially in his retirement, he maintained an active correspondence focused on politics and culture with hundreds of friends from almost every stage of his life.

Joint services for Mr. and Mrs. Kuttner will be at 11 a.m. Friday, June 21at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 711 N. Columbus St., Alexandria, VA. Visitors are welcome to join the family at the church at 10 a.m., and there will be reception at the church immediately following the mass. The funeral mass will be livestreamed on the church website, www.stjosephva.org.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Archdiocese Of Washington’s Annual Catholic Services Appeal (www.adw.org/ways-to-give/annual-appeal/) or to DC Central Kitchen (www.dccentralkitchen.org/donate).