Alice Kandler Butler

Mrs. Butler was born November 25, 1912, in New Jersey, and was a daughter of the late Lydia Kuenzler and George Christian Kandler.

Mrs. Butler grew up in New Jersey and New York before moving to Washington, DC, where she worked as a legal secretary/stenographer, first, for attorney, David A. Turner, and later, for the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Veterans Affairs. She also served as backup secretary for the Attorney General’s Office. On one occasion, she had tea with Eleanor Roosevelt in the Rose Garden of the White House. Upon retirement in 1968, Mrs. Butler moved to Harrisonburg. She and her husband moved briefly to Florida in1973 and returned to Harrisonburg to stay in 1974.

Mrs. Butler was an accomplished seamstress and played both the piano and violin, performing two solos on the violin as a child at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She also was an avid swimmer and loved reading, crossword puzzles, especially the Sunday Washington Post Magazine crossword puzzle, cryptograms, and in later years, word find puzzles. She and her husband loved to travel.

On October 21, 1936, she married the late Ambler Hampton Butler, who passed on September 29, 1981.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Emil George Kandler, her sister and very best friend, Emily Elizabeth Kandler Shipp, and her brother-in-law, John Robert Shipp.

Mrs. Butler was an active member of Bethel Church of the Brethren. Her favorite book was the Bible, which she truly studied and used as the model for her life.

She is survived by one niece, Paula N. Smith, and husband, Gordon, of Mechanicsville, MD; one great-niece, Jennifer M. Smith, of Washington, DC; three great-nephews, Steven M. Smith (wife, Nicole) and Robert H. Smith both of Casselberry, FL, Christopher A. Smith of Sunbury, PA; and one great-great-niece, Jordyn Smith-Stephens also of Sunbury, PA.

Pastor William Staton will conduct the funeral at 3 p.m., Saturday, March 23, at the Bethel Church of the Brethren in Keezletown. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, March 22, at the Lindsey Harrisonburg Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Bethel Church of the Brethren, 3061 Armentrout Path, Keezletown, VA 22832.

Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.lindseyharrisonburg.com.