Obituary of Lloyd Butler

BUTLER, Lloyd M. (Age 88) On January 5, 2013, Lloyd passed away peacefully at Life Care Center of Ritzville. A loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend, he spent his final moments surrounded by his devoted family. Lloyd was born to William and Anna Butler in Lind, WA on April 11, 1924. He lived his entire life in Lind and was beloved in the community. At the age of 12, Lloyd worked at Carlock's Grocery in the evenings and on Saturdays. He told great stories about his childhood in Lind, growing up during the Great Depression. He gave his mother fits because he liked to sneak away to the stockyards near the railroad and visit with the hobos, even sharing their ground-owl stew now and then. During World War II, Lloyd joined the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and was stationed near Adak, AK. When he came home in 1946, he worked as a carpenter foreman. In the fall of '46, he met the love of his life, Elnora Jane Vold. She had come to work in Lind as a 5th grade teacher and in an act of serendipity, rented a room from Lloyd's parents. They began dating and were married June 8, 1947 - celebrating nearly 55 years of marriage when Elnora passed away in 2002 after a battle with cancer. Lloyd held several jobs in Lind throughout his long and eventful life. He owned Slim's Electric and worked as an appliance and television repairman, bringing the first TV to Lind. He bought the Husky Oil Plant in 1968 and ran the oil and service station for many years. Lloyd served 17 years on the Lind Town Council, first as a council member and later as mayor for eight years. Throughout all of those years, Lloyd was driving school bus for the Lind School District. He retired in August 1999 after 52 years of service. He began driving school bus in 1947 when he married his school teacher wife. Over the years, he logged at least one million miles - the equivalent of 33,333 round trips between Lind and Ritzville, driving generations of families from Lind to and from the schools. The kids who rode his bus loved him every day of the year, but waited anxiously for the last day of school when he would take them out for milkshakes or give them king-sized Snickers bars. Lloyd cared about people. He was a voice of reason and a friend to all who knew him. He was an amazing story teller who lived life to the fullest. He had an outrageous sense of humor, enjoyed telling a good joke and hearing one. In his younger days, he enjoyed fishing, hunting and driving the motorhome to his favorite campgrounds and parades. He was an accomplished educator in his own right, teaching his daughters, Iris and Violet, how to work hard, give back and be kind to others. His grandson, Jeff, was the son he never had - and he thrived on teaching him to fish, hunt and drive a combine. Together they shared a passion for trapshooting that will live on through Jeff. Lloyd taught his granddaughters as well, from fishing and shooting a gun to the importance of finishing a job you started. He taught all of us by example that working hard didn't mean you couldn't have fun. He liked a good laugh and he treasured his time with friends in Lind. Whether it was spending Sunday afternoons at the gun club, riding the rails with his buddies on the defunct Burlington-Northern railroad tracks or rolling dice to see who had to pick up the coffee tab at the Golden Grain Café, Lloyd loved life - and he lived it every single day of his 88 years. He will be deeply missed by all of us who knew and laughed with him. Lloyd was preceded in death by his loving wife, Elnora, his sister Edith Weston and his parents, William O. and Anna Butler. He is survived by his daughters, Iris Hill (Rod) of Cheney and Violet Holland (Don Klemmer) of Lind, four grandchildren, Jeff Holland of Ritzville, Julie Holland of Spokane, Melani Schorr of Cheney and Melissa Switalski (Rick) of Nine Mile Falls, and eight great-grandchildren: Tanner, Jarod, Casey, Kaelie, Grace, Jake, Isabella and Graysen. The family would like to thank the staff of the Life Care Center of Ritzville for loving Lloyd and taking such great care of him during his final 15 months. The staff fondly called him "the big man on campus" and he enjoyed teasing the nurses and cracking jokes every day. We feel blessed to have had Lloyd in our lives for 88 years and look forward to the time we'll see him again in heaven. A celebration of Lloyd's life will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 19, 2013 at Danekas Funeral Home, 207 E. Main Ave., in Ritzville. Inurnment will follow in the spring at the Parker Family Cemetery in Bonners Ferry, ID.