Barbara Thurman Butler

A memorial service will be held at 12:00 o’clock p.m. on Wednesday, May 15 at H.M. Patterson & Son Canton Hill Chapel. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 11 to 12 o’clock.

Barbara was born in Owensboro, KY, the daughter of an electrician and an antiques dealer. After graduating from Western Kentucky University as part of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, she moved to Georgia and worked as an art teacher in the Atlanta Public School System for ten years. During that time, she met her husband of 44 years, L.D. Butler, who she dedicated the last decade of her life caring for throughout his own struggle with Alzheimer’s.

A prolific quilter and textile artist, Barbara was a longstanding member of the East Cobb Quilters’ Guild and regularly exhibited her prizewinning, hand-quilted work in shows, contests, and publications nationwide. Major honors included representing the state of Georgia in the 1986 Statue of Liberty Centennial contest and the Georgia Quilt Project supporting the 1996 Olympic Games.

Throughout it all, Barbara embodied an indomitable goodwill for friends and strangers, a love for art, literature, and family, and a worldview of equality, hope, and compassion. Her philosophy was that though others might forget the things you say or do, they will never forget the way you made them feel.

Ms. Butler is survived by a son, Blake Butler, and his wife, Molly Brodak; a daughter, Morgan Kendall, and her husband, Justin; a grandson, Lucien Kendall; a sister, Saundra Webb; brothers, Dennis Thurman and Rick Thurman; many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 8180 Greensboro Drive, Suite 400, McLean VA 22102 (http://www.alz.org/).