William "Bill" D. Northcutt

William "Bill" D. Northcutt, age 84, of New London, MO passed away peacefully at 6:05 am Sunday, October 30, 2022, at Hannibal Regional Hospital. 
 
Private family funeral services will be held Saturday, November 5, 2022, at the Smith Funeral Home & Chapel. Pastor Rich Stilley and Pastor Bill Haffner will officiate. Burial will be in the Grand View Burial Park.
 
A visitation celebrating Bill's life will be held from 4:00 until 7:00 pm Friday, November 4, 2022, at the Smith Funeral Home & Chapel.
 
Bill was born on January 4, 1938, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Hannibal, MO the son of John and Martha (Brown) Northcutt.
 
Survivors include two sons, John Northcutt (Regina) of Hannibal, MO, and Mark Northcutt (Carla) of Laddonia, MO; two daughters, Julie Northcutt of Chicago, IL, and Sally Mathew (Mat) of Birmingham, AL; two sisters; Ferol Hillebrenner of Pittsfield, Il and Linda Clark of Hannibal, MO; six grandchildren, Morgan Valencia (Ernesto), Courtney Schwartz (Austin), Caleb Northcutt, Elizabeth Northcutt, Sam Northcutt, and Molly Mathew and one great grandchild, Enzo Valencia.
 
He was preceded in death by his parents.
 
Bill graduated from Ilasco High School in the class of 1955. His curiosity for life and loyalty to his family’s farming roots led him to study Agriculture Education at the University of Missouri where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1959, and later earned his master’s degree. He had a special love for the “Old Home Place,” for which he secured a Centennial Farm Award to celebrate his family’s success as homesteaders, securing the land through the Homestead Act of 1862. He was a founding member of The Ilasco Historical Society, creating a lasting public memorial to share the Ilasco immigrant story.

He taught Agriculture at high schools in Silex, Marshall, Hannibal, and Bowling Green. He maintained lifelong relationships with many of his students and founded the Jess Clonts scholarship to honor a first-year Ag teacher. His passion for teaching and mentoring children lead him to launch a new 4-H chapter in Saverton, MO. He served a stint as chairman of the Missouri State Fair hog barn, led a group of FFA students to the former U.S.S.R for the U.S. Information Agency, took his young family to volunteer in Arkansas with Heifer Project International, raised funds to send veterans to Washington, D.C. for Honor Flight, and volunteered in Nicaragua with The Rainbow Network. He developed a lifelong friendship with the Amish community in Northeastern Missouri, and many friends and family enjoyed the tours he gave them to the homes and farms of his Amish friends. He deeply appreciated the values of the Amish way of life and continued to sell corn and soybean seed to this community throughout his retirement.

He managed to make people smile even when they didn’t share his language from the South of France to Serbia to Costa Rica to Scotland to Denmark. His love of different cultures brought exchange students to his family’s door, including a lifelong family friendship with “Tina from Denmark”. At age 79, he went ziplining and white-water rafting in Ecuador. 

He held a special love for all of his grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins, and could always be counted on to make it to every family celebration, often showing off his love of dancing the Polka. He had an arsenal of games and tricks to make adults and children laugh and was known as “Uncle Bill” to many. His famous (and infamous) jokes will be greatly missed. He started taking 100 pound pumpkins to Stowell Elementary when his youngest was in 3rd grade and continued to take a huge pumpkin to Mrs. Smith’s classroom for years to come. 

“Books aren’t for keeping” he taught his children and constantly was passing along his books to others. He still loved old-fashioned letter writing and visited the post office almost daily to mail a newspaper clipping or magazine article with a hand-written note to someone in his vast network of lifelong friends.

He liked to share that you could always tell if you were welcome in someone’s home, no matter where you were in the world. One of his greatest joys was entertaining others for a visit, a meal, or just a story by the fire in his home.

Bill was a member of Riverside Nazarene Church.

Pallbearers will be Gary Borrowman, Chris Brown, Tom Brown, Mat Mathew, Earl Pollard, and Garten Pollard
Honorary Pallbearers will be David Polc, Bob Dimitrijevich
 
Memorial contributions may be made to the Missouri FFA Foundation, in care of Smith Funeral Home & Chapel.
 
Online condolences may be made to the family and video tribute may be viewed on Bill's memorial page at www.smithfuneralhomeandchapel.com 

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