From a Hutterite community to giving back to this community

Though she struck out to create her own life, fulfilling her dream of getting an education, she never really left the deep sense of community or the values she learned growing up.

"When you're raised in the colony, you just help each other out," Hinthorne said. "That's just what you do. It's a community."

It was a tenacious drive that led her leave the colony, leaving not just a family, but a way of life. She said though she's left, her family and siblings remained supportive of her decision. 

She left with nothing.

"The colony takes very good care of you. You have food, housing, clothing," Hinthorne said. "But when you leave, you have nothing."

She loved her family, deeply admired her mother's strength and values.

"I didn't leave because I didn't like the community," Hinthorne said. "It was just that I wanted to do things I could never do there."

Hinthorne wanted to finish and continue her education. When she grew up on the colony, girls only went through eighth grade. 

She remembers her family asking: What makes you think you'll make it?

"'I'll show you,' I said. I wanted to succeed," Hinthorne said. "I didn't change my own life to fail."

For her success in education, volunteering and operating a successful small business, Hinthorne is one of this year's 20 Exceptional Women. 

She staked everything on her success. She earned her high-school equivalency and then went to Montana State University Billings. She worked her way through college, falling back on the skills she had learned growing up in the Hutterite colony. 

"I learned to cook in the colony. We made massive amounts of food," Hinthorne said. "It was something I loved."

She worked her way through college at Stella's Bakery and Restaurant, the Billings landmark restaurant owned by Stella and "Ziggy" Ziegler, known for their breakfast menu and cinnamon rolls. She would go to work at 2 a.m., to start preparing food and baked goods and attend her first class at 7:30. She graduated with a degree in communication and theater arts with an emphasis on business. 

She moved to McCormick Cafe, eventually becoming the manager, loving the atmosphere where there were "the regulars" — the customers who came often. 

She's volunteered for several community organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club and Eagle Mount. 

When she got married and had her daughter, she wanted to spend time closer to family, so she struck out on her own, creating Abby's Catering. She hardly started before she began getting calls from customers who had heard about the catering business. 

"I love baking. I do all my own buns and breads," Hinthorne said. "Growing up in the colony, I also love the fresh items, especially in the summer."

The business has grown from her house to an operation with several regular employees and others who work when needed. She loves that she employs several mothers who like the occasional work of catering events. The business has expanded from her house to the location of the former Joe's Market, just up the street from where her daughter went to school at Broadwater Elementary.

But more than those changes, Hinthorne also takes joy in recently opening their home to a foster daughter. She loves seeing her daughter and foster daughter go through life together.

"God just put it on our hearts," Hinthorne said. "We knew she was ours and we knew the minute we met her. She asked, 'Why did you pick me?' And we said, 'God gave you to us.'"