I have spent nine decades in motion—across continents, across eras, and across the evolving sky.

A former Marine Corps Major and jet aviator, Butler went on to become one of Pan Am’s most respected training leaders, directing the B707, L1011, and iconic B747 programs before rising to System Director of Flight Training at the Pan American International Flight Academy in Miami. I started written pottery at 91 years.

Runways behind me, skies ahead—

and love still humming in the thread.

If this is where the story ends,

it ends with peace, and hope, and friends.

A life in full, a life well flown—

and now, at last, the long glide home.

May the skies ahead stay open, and every dawn arrive in gold;

May the love I’ve carried forward be the story that is told.e

and love still humming in the thread.

If this is where the story ends,

it ends with peace, and hope, and friends.

A life in full, a life well flown—

and now, at last, the long glide home.

May the skies ahead stay open, and every dawn arrive in gold;

May the love I’ve carried forward be the story that is told.