Sylvia Butler

Sylvia Lopez Butler was born on May 3, 1959 to parents Raphael and Elva Lopez at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles, Ca. She was the fourth child of six and has two brothers and three sisters: Ralph, Beatrice, Ana, Lydia and Phillip. She grew up in Los Angeles, Ca and went to Garfield High School where she graduated in 1977. She later got a job at a company called Best Products. There she met her best friend of over 30 years, Nelida. Nelida and Sylvia became great friends, doing everything together (including learning how to drive a stick shift). They were so close they considered themselves family, and even when Nelida moved out of state to Wisconsin, they continued their long distance friendship. After she worked at Best Products for a few years she went on to work for a newspaper company as a secretary. In 1984, Sylvia met her husband of almost 30 years, Michael Butler, at a restaurant called Red Onion. In January 1986, they married and later that year welcomed a son, Jeffrey Michael Butler. They rented a house in West Covina for four years and later welcomed a daughter, Lauren Nicole Butler, in December of 1989. In the summer of 1990, they bought their first house in the High Desert area in the city of Hesperia, Ca.

She was a stay-at-home mom and babysitter to some neighbor’s kids for almost 10 years and watched them grow up into wonderful young adults. In 1998, she started working at a new elementary school, Mesquite Trails Elementary, as a proctor. Sylvia loved helping kids and taking care of them. She had a kind heart and cared for everyone who came into her life. She also loved to travel and had a chance to travel to places such as Cancun, Wisconsin, and her last trip last year was to Hawaii to see her nephew get married. In May of 2008, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and later that month had a mastectomy to take precautions. She went through four rounds of chemotherapy and was declared cancer free the following year.

In January 2013, she discovered another lump on the same side she had the mastectomy. She went in for tests and later found out the cancer had returned and was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. With her faith in God, and amazing friends and family by her side, Sylvia had 6 rounds of chemotherapy treatment. After her last round, she went back to work and was feeling great. In early November of 2014, she started to get headaches that would not go away. They got so bad she had to be taken into the emergency room where they did an MRI and found that the cancer had spread to her brain. The week before Thanksgiving she had five rounds of radiation therapy. The headaches went away and she gained her strength back. She was able to spend time with her family on Christmas and enjoyed herself. In May 2015, she was well enough to go to the beach and see her son get married.

Sylvia loved life and no matter what got thrown at her she pulled through. She loved to watch old movies and listen to music from some of her favorite singers. She was blessed to be able to see a few concerts in her life such as Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, and Barbra Streisand. She also loved to watch old movies such as Roman Holiday, West Side Story, Gone with the Wind, and one of her favorites was The Way We Were. She loved her family and was always smiling. She loved her husband of 29 years and he was her soul mate. Her friends and coworkers said she always talked about her kids and how proud of them she was.

She loved to go to the movies, Disneyland, shopping at her favorite stores at Victoria Gardens, and just being around family for any occasion. She loved helping people in any way she could and most of all loved to cook. In our family, she is famous for her spaghetti salad, pumpkin bread, and her roasted vegetables that she always brought to her sister’s house every Christmas. For 7 long years, Sylvia fought and survived cancer. On October 1, 2015, Sylvia lost her battle to breast cancer due to complications of pneumonia as well as the cancer spreading to vital organs. She lived, she loved, and she lost, but she is finally free and watching over her family and friends every day. She was loved by so many, and touched so many lives. Her memory will live on forever and she will eternally be free with her Father God in heaven. May my mother forever Rest In Paradise.

Sylvia is survived by her husband Michael, and her two children Jeffrey and Lauren.