M. Donnie Dr. Dutton

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - Dr. Marion Donnie Dutton, 79, of Fayetteville, AR passed away Saturday, January 10, 2015 at Hospice in Fayetteville, AR. Funeral services will be 3:00pmWednesday, January 14, 2015 at Central United Methodist Church, Fayetteville. The family will greet friends from 5:00pm until 7:00pm Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at Nelson Berna Funeral Home in Fayetteville. Interment will take place at Long Pine United Methodist Church, Wadesboro on Saturday, January 17, 2015 with Rev. Stephen Shytle and Rev. Warren Lunsford officiating. The family will greet friends from 12:00pm until 1:00pm at the church, with a graveside service following in the church cemetery. Dr. Dutton was born October 3, 1935 in Wadesboro, NC a son of the late Marion Battle Dutton and the late Dorothy Rayfield Dutton. He graduated from Deep Creek High School at the age of 15 and attended North Carolina State University, graduating with a BS Degree in 1955 at the age of 19. He began teaching vocational agriculture in high school at that young age. He received his Master's Degree from North Carolina State in 1961, and completed his Ph.D in 1967 from Florida State University in Adult and Continuing Education. Dr. Dutton was a recognized leader in the field of Adult Education. In 1968, he was recruited to Memphis State University, where he founded the Department of Adult Education, after which he was recruited in 1974 to the University of Arkansas, where he also founded their Department of Adult Education. He was Past President of the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education. He served as an advisor to President Jimmy Carter and his Commission on Adult Education and also to then Governor Bill Clinton in Arkansas in a similar capacity. In 1984, he accepted the position as Interim Dean of the College of Continuing Education at the University of Arkansas. He remained at that position until his retirement in 2007. Though a lifelong member of Long Pine United Methodist Church in Wadesboro, North Carolina, he was very active at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, AR. He dedicated much of the last 15 years of his life to teaching Sunday School to the homebound members of the church via teleconference each week. Donnie was an avid bluegrass musician and was known far and wide for accomplishments in that arena. He was master of the guitar, banjo, and the mandolin. He played with many different groups over the years and toured across the country playing at many festivals and other venues. He was a former Champion of the Arkansas State Guitar Finger Picking contest and once played a bluegrass performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Surviving are his wife of 57 wonderful years, Elizabeth Buff Dutton of the home; his son, Mark Dutton and wife, Kim of Fayetteville; his grandchildren, Lauren Dutton Robinson and husband, Spencer of Columbia, SC, James Garrett Dutton of Brooklyn, NY and Mitchell P. Dutton of Fayetteville, AR; his great-grandchildren, Parker Fox Robinson and Elizabeth Spencer Robinson both of Columbia, SC. Also surviving are his brother and sisters, Charles Dutton and wife, Marcia of Lake Charles, LA, Judy Dutton Poulnott and Gail Dutton Preslar both of Wadesboro, NC and Kathy Dutton Carroll and husband, Joel of Hudson, NC and his nieces and nephews and their families. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Long Pine United Methodist Church, 8472 Hwy 109 South, Wadesboro, NC 28170. The arrangements are in care of Nelson-Berna Funeral Home and Crematory of Fayetteville, AR and Leavitt Funeral Home of Wadesboro, NC. Online condolences may be made at www.leavittfuneralhomewadesboro.com