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Jack Arthur Butler
When Jack Butler was 30 years old, he heard a Gospel message for the first time.
It was at that moment he realized his calling; to spread the word of the Lord.
The retired missionary for New Tribes Mission in Sanford, Florida died Thursday,
September 1, 1999 of congestive heart failure. He was 72.
"He was a man that walked with God,'' said his wife, Mary. "He was loved by
everyone that ever knew him.''
The couple would have celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary this year.
Jack was born in Craigsville, Pa., May 21, 1927, the son of Frank B. and Dorothy
E. (Yonker) Butler.
He attended Worthington-West Franklin High School. He joined the merchant
marines a few years after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
As part of the war effort, Jack was sent to the Pacific to help deliver
supplies. "He was right where the fighting was,'' his wife said.
After the war, Jack's job gave him a chance to see the world - including South
America and Europe.
In 1957, he heard a Gospel reading, and "that changed his life. He knew right
there what was missing from his life,'' Mary Butler said.
The couple then attended Bible College in Castile, N.Y. In 1962, they became
missionaries for New Tribes Mission in Pennsylvania.
One of their first assignments was living in the jungles of Panama with native
tribes. But after a few years, Arthur Butler became ill with multiple sclerosis
and tuberculosis and returned to the United States.
In 1972, they moved to Central Florida and worked with New Tribes Mission. As a
chaplain he traveled to churches around the country. Jack retired in 1991.
Survivors include his wife Mary W. Butler; three daughters, Donna J. Barbon,
Gibsonton, Florida, Susan L. Curtis and Barbara A. Whitsett, both of Orlando,
Florida; sister Jean L. Osche, Craigsville, Pa.; six grandchildren; and eight
great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Edwin Theodore Butler,
June 19, 1978 and Donald Thomas Butler, April 6, 1993.
Interement in Oaklawn Park Cemetery, Lake Mary, Fl.
Arrangements by Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home, Sanford, Fl. |
