Helen Mathieu Butler

Helen Mathieu Butler, 98, an inspiring third grade teacher at Pontchartrain Park’s Coghill School, died of congestive heart failure at Ochsner hospital on October 11th. Her students include Actor Wendell Pierce, Musician Terrance Blanchard, District Attorney Eddie Jordan, and Judge Sidney Cates.

After graduating from Xavier Preparatory High School in 1941, Miss Mathieu enrolled at Dillard University in New Orleans. The exigencies of World War II led her to transfer to Howard University in Washington D.C. for her junior and senior years. While still a sophomore at Dillard, she was pictured in W. E. B. Dubois Crisis Magazine for her academic accomplishments, poise, and beauty.

Reporting her honor, The Louisiana Weekly wrote, “Appropriately chosen as Queen of Beauty of Dillard University in a recent contest sponsored by The Crisis magazine was this Crescent City lass, Miss Helen Mathieu. A sophomore, Miss Mathieu was selected by the general vote of the student body, and her picture appears in the February 1943 issue of The Crisis.”

This wasn’t the first time a member of Helen’s family made news. Her great uncle Charles Roxborough was the first African American State Senator in Michigan. His son John Roxborough gained fame as heavyweight champion Joe Louis’ manager. In 1936, Roxborough brought Louis to New Orleans for a family visit that included Helen, her older brother Owen (1923 - 2017), and a raucous crowd of Joe Louis admirers.

In 1888, Helen’s grandfather Eli Whitney Sorrell was written about when he was selected as a delegate to the 1888 Republican Convention that nominated Benjamin Harrison for President. The same story mentioned that Eli was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Southern University. Helen’s Uncle Eli Whitney Sorrell Jr was the first principal of Cohen High School.

In 1855, Helen’s great grandfather, Thomas Simms, filed into the City’s preserved records a notarized manumission that released from slavery Helen’s great grandmother Virginia Ann Smith and the couple’s three children. The last born of Thomas’ and Virginia’s children was Helen Elizabeth Simms, Helen Mathieu Butler’s grandmother.

Helen was born to Gertrude Mathieu of Plaquemine, Louisiana (1898 - 1993) a homemaker and Benoit Mathieu (1898 - 1993) of Edgard, Louisiana a World War I veteran whose reading skills earned him a job in the New Orleans Post Office despite Woodrow Wilson’s efforts to reduce federal employment of African Americans. His steady income accommodated the needs the household during the Depression and beyond. Helen benefited when her paternal grandmother, Lorenza came to live with the family. Lorenza worked at a bookstore on Maple Street and often brought home books for young Helen when access to New Orleans libraries was limited by segregation.

Helen was predeceased by her husband Jugurtha Clifton Butler, a 1937 graduate of McDonough 35 High School and 1941 graduate of Xavier University. In 1964, he became the first African American to earn a Masters from Loyola’s Business School. After serving in WWII, he worked alongside his father and brother at Butler’s Jewelry Store. When the economy changed, he and his brother integrated the salesforce of New York Life Insurance Company in New Orleans.

Mrs. Butler is survived by her son, Investment Banker Keith Butler of Gulf Breeze Fl, her granddaughter Zoe Hopkins of New York City; brother-in-Law Dr. Alan Butler of Simsbury CT; nephews Dr. Owen Mathieu of Marblehead MA; Dr. Michael Mathieu of Winchester VA; Dr. Michael Thomas of Las Vegas; niece Attorney Ayanna Butler of Washington D.C.; grandnieces Dr. Irene Mathieu of Charlottesville VA; Dr. Jeanette Mathieu of San Francisco; Benoit Mathieu of Quebec City; and Maura Mathieu of Denver; cousins Economist Margaret Simms of Washington D.C. and Attorney Marsha Simms of New York City.

Because she was raised uptown, Helen insisted that she was not creole even though she looked creole, cooked creole, and tinkered like a creole; she could fix anything. She was an avid sports fan who closely followed tennis (Serena Williams); golf (Tiger Woods), the Saints (Tyrann Mathieu, of course); and basketball (a Zion skeptic).

Upon her death, Mrs. Butler bequeathed a gift to the Holy Family Nuns of which her Aunt Ruth Sorrell was a member. Her family encourages you to do the same.

A visitation honoring Helen and her late husband Jugurtha will be held on Saturday November 4, 2023 in the Chapel of Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd., New Orleans beginning at 9:30am followed by services at 10:00am. Followed by a procession to the Butler family property in Metairie Cemetery.

To view and sign the family guestbook, please visit www.lakelawnmetairie.com