Harold Leon “Pete” Cutsinger

August 29, 1917 – March 18, 1984

Harold Leon “Pete” Cutsinger, 66, of Lihue Kauai, Hawaii, died Monday, March 18, of a heart attack.

Born in Joplin, Missouri on August 29, 1917, he was the son of Frank Glennville and Bessie Edith McGuire Cutsinger. He attended the Tonkawa, Oklahoma high school before graduating from Perry high in 1935. While in school he was prominent in athletics, winning several awards. He and his brother, Frank, were boxers. In 1933 they boxed a three round exhibition at the National Guard Athletic Association’s boxing event in Perry and continued competing in state-wide boxing matches. Pete was runner-up for the Oklahoma state middleweight championship in 1935 and was the winner of the Missouri Valley A.A.U. Boxing tournament in Kansas City, Missouri at the 160-pound class. In all, he fought 97 bouts as one of Oklahoma’s greatest amateur boxers.

On August 29, 1937, he and Mary Helen Loch, were married in Enid, Oklahoma. The couple made their home in Perry where Harold was associated in business with this father. The couple were blessed with two sons and one daughter. Pete was very active as a Scout Master and played baseball for the local Perry Merchants and the Perry Sandlot Drillers.

In 1947 he accepted a position with Shell Oil and the family moved to Sayre, then to Elk City, Oklahoma in 1950. He worked for Shell as a roustabout, No. 1 and No. 2 operator, repairman, and served the company as a railroad loading rackman. After the children were in grown, Pete and Mary moved to Stillwater, Kenai, Alaskak where he had a job at Mukluk Freight Lines, and finally to Lihue Kauai, Hawaii where he was resident manager at Kalapaki Vills.

Survivors include: his wife, Mary; sons, Gary L., and Roddy K., both of Houston, Texas; daughter, Cheryl Sue Cote of Austin, Texas; brothers, Frank of Perry, Okla., and Robert of Kenai Alaska; and eight grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 5 p.m. tomorrow at Lihue United Church. His body is to be cremated and his ashes thrown into the Hawaiian surf.