Butler, Wayne E. 1929-1977

BUTLER, AHRENS, LEYDENS, PIRKL

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 3/2/2017 at 09:08:18

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register
Jan. 5, 1978

BUTLER, 48, DIES IN IOWA CITY

Wayne Butler, 48, of Ladora, one of the first ten kidney transplant patients at the University Hospitals in Iowa City, died at the hospital early Saturday morning, Dec. 24.

Funeral services for Wayne E. Butler were held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. John's Lutheran Church in Marengo. The Rev. Robert Jacobs officiated at the service. Mrs. James McCaw accompanied the congregational singing on the organ. Gottfried Steinmetz was usher.

Pallbearers were Larry Bine, Ronald Mohr, Clark Huedepohl, Dick Mouchka, all of Marengo; Max Hermann of Ladora; and Gene Root of Blairstown. Burial was in Marengo Cemetery.

Born Dec. 21, 1929, in Grinnell, he was the son of Carl and Lucille Ahrens Butler. He spent his early years in Grinnell before moving, with his family, to the Montezuma area, where he attended rural schools. He graduated from Montezuma High School in 1948.

On June 5, 1949, he married Doris Leydens, at the Presbyterian Church in Montezuma. The Butler family, including one son and four daughters, farmed in the Malcom and Grinnell area before moving to Ladora in 1956. He was a member of the Iowa County Cattlemen Association, and the Iowa County Pork Producers. He had also served on the board of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Malcom for some time before moving to Ladora.

The Butler family has assisted with activities of the Kidney Foundation of Iowa, and Wayne had served as a volunteer counselor with kidney patients at the University Hospitals.

Surviving him are his wife, Doris; his parents, the Carl Butlers of Grinnell; one son, Kendall Butler; three daughters, Mrs. Tom (Linda) Pirkl of Ladora, Deborah Butler of Lexington, Neb., and Rebecca Butler of Ladora; two brothers, Ron Butler of Grinnell and Willis Butler of Sweeny, Tex.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Wendy, in 1975, and a brother, Dale, in 1964.