Roberta Jane Butler Nettleton

The celebration of Roberta Jane Nettleton’s life will be delayed due to current restrictions on large gatherings and will be celebrated at a date and location to be determined. Those wishing to be notified are encouraged to contact her children and a notice will be provided.

Jane passed peacefully on November 11th at Harborview Hospital due to complications associated with heart disease and visited by her 3 children Brian, Scott, and Jennifer. Born in Salem, Oregon to Myron and Leila Butler, Jane was the third of four children, in her youth she attended Salem Heights Elementary, where her mother had attended before her, she went on to graduate from South Salem High School. During this time Jane’s family was active in the local Congregational Church, where she met her future husband Don in Sunday School; it wasn’t until she asked him to the Junior/Senior Prom in high school that they had their first date.

Don and Jane both worked summer jobs at local canneries for money and he and Jane both started at the Oregon College of Education, and during their 2nd year, they were married on January 15, 1960 and that education was placed on hold. The next two summers, the couple worked at a US Forest Service fire lookout on Drake Peak outside of Lakeview where their first son was born during that second summer, Jane had numerous tales of what it was like to be so remote and with child. When not at the lookout they returned to Salem and resided at a boarding house run by Jane’s in-laws. Don took work in the grocery business and built a house for their growing family, in the late 60’s they sold the house to finance a return to college for Don. During this time Jane managed the boarding house with the 3 young children. Upon Don’s graduation in 1970 they moved to Longview, then Seattle, and then Missoula, Montana as his career progressed, each time seeking out a local UCC church and taking an active role.

Jane settled in as a homemaker and found part time employment opportunities to help make ends meet and allowing time to manage the family. An outstanding cook, she developed a reputation as a gracious hostess. In 1984, they were transferred back to Seattle, and they became involved in the Northshore United Church of Christ, where Jane eventually took on the role of office administrator until retirement. She and Don both remained active members of the Church. When not volunteering or at work they could be found camping with the family on weekends, they both enjoyed the outdoors with their honeymoon even being a camping expedition to the Oregon Coast. Later Jane and Don took off often with their travel trailer.

Jane was an active gardener, and would often spend time home canning the bounty from the vegetable garden that she and Don maintained wherever they lived. As a couple they moved in 2008 into the Emerald Heights community in Redmond where Jane, belying the shyness of her youth, quickly became a fixture and friends with many of the other residents; she is particularly noted for her participation in any choir oriented event and her fanatical rooting for the Seattle Seahawks.

Jane was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, Don, and is survived by her brother Fred Butler, her two sisters, Anne Yuhas and Myra Shawe, her children Brian (wife Joylene and daughters Margaret and Wendy); Scott (wife Claire and children Eric, Riley, Sean, and Caroline); and daughter Jennifer (children Stephanie Yoshida Butler and Austin Shields) and 3 great grandchildren; Gianna McKinley Butler, Jackson Todd Butler, and Cash Allen Shields. Her children also wish to recognize and thank Ralph Dines, who has been a special friend and companion for their mother these past several years.

The family invites friends to join them in remembering Jane’s life and encourage donations in her honor to the Northshore United Church of Christ.