Obituary of Ethel Butler

Services for Ethel B. Butler, 91, of Lumberton, Mississippi, former of Arp, will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, March 13 in the Cottle Pearson Funeral Home Chapel, Overton, with Reverend Wes Bynum officiating. Burial will follow at Mason cemetery Arp, Texas. Mrs. Butler passed away peacefully on March 11 after a short illness. She was born December 15, 1918 in Chapel Hill, Texas, the 9th of 12 children of William Jefferson and Georgiana Uber Allen. She is preceded in death by her first husband, Lillard Slayton, who was killed in an oil rig accident in 1940. During World War II she worked in Midland, Texas packing parachutes for the Army Air Corps. There, she met Finis Cole "Doc" Butler, and they were married in 1945. Doc preceded her in death in 1988. Ethel worked at sewing factories in Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi. In 1959, she graduated from cosmetology school, working as a hair dresser for several years. In the early 1970s she went to work for General Electric Corp., from which she retired in 1982. Ethel loved to travel. She and Doc journeyed around the country in their motor home. She said she would go anywhere "as long as I could drag a foot on the ground." But that changed when she and Doc flew to Jamaica on their way to visit their daughter and son-in-law, who was in the Navy stationed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Air Station , Cuba. Ethel was an accomplished seamstress and her love of sewing and crocheting has given her family much joy. The quilts she created are true works of art. Ethel was preceded in death by her parents and 10 siblings. She is survived by her sister Veneta Allen Jones of Greenville, Kentucky. She is also survived by her son L. Don Slayton and wife Debra of Deer Park, Texas; two daughters, Diana and husband Danny J. Williams and LaNell Butler of Lumberton, Miss; five grandchildren, Donna Slayton Shiffler, DeLisa Slayton Strege, Damon Butler, Daniel Williams, and Dania Jo Williams Saucier; and six great-grandchildren, Kendall and Bailey Shiffler; Olivia and Keith Strege; and Jack Butler, and baby boy (Jake) Butler, due in June. Pallbearers will be Darmon Butler, Daniel Williams, Latrell Allen, Waymon Jones, Allan Ray Harris, and Ronnie Dale Allen Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, March 12 at the funeral home.