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Bessie M. 'Bess' Butler

Bessie M. "Bess" Butler

Jun 19, 1906 - Apr 17, 2009
Bessie M. "Bess" Butler of Riverton died Friday evening, April 17, 2009, at Wind River Healthcare in Riverton, where she had been a resident for 9-1/2 months. She was 102.

Graveside services will be held on Monday, May 18, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. at Mountain View Cemetery in Riverton. Cremation has taken place.

Bessie Marguerite Heuring was born on June 19, 1906, in Giltner, Neb., the sixth of eight children born to Albert and Bertha (Ballard) Heuring.

She grew up in Central City, Neb., and was graduated from Central City High School.

Entering kindergarten, she formed a friendship with two classmates and the three remained friends for life, all of them living beyond their 100th birthdays.

On Feb. 20, 1926, she married Vance L. Butler in Omaha, Neb. Mr. Butler was an engineer with the Nebraska Department of Roads for over 50 years and his work took the family throughout the state. As a couple, they lived in 86 different Nebraska towns, some of them, especially Lincoln, several times over the years. Transfers came so quickly that Mrs. Butler often recounted of the time she did the washing in one town, hung out the wash in another, and ironed in the third.

They later settled in Neligh, Neb., for 11 years, then were transferred to Ainsworth, Neb., for 19 years, until Mr. Butler retired from the highway department and they moved to Riverton in 1975 to be near their daughters and families.

Mrs. Butler was a homemaker and member of the United Methodist Church of Riverton. She was a past matron of the Order of the Eastern Star in Neligh, Neb., a member of Chapter AP, P.E.O., in Riverton and past president Chapter CQ, P.E.O. in Neligh. She belonged to the Meadowlark Good Sam Club in Riverton, and had been active in all school, Girl Scout, and Jobs Daughters functions when her daughters were students in Nebraska.

Survivors include two daughters, Carolyn B. Tyler and Linda B. Becker of Riverton; a grandson, Gregory Vance Becker of Friday Harbor, Wash.; five great grandchildren, Vance, Dylan, MaKenzie, Hailey, and Tristan Becker of Driggs, Idaho; numerous nieces and nephews, and grand nieces and grand nephews, and close friend, Shirley Fowler, recently of Powell.

Having outlived all of her siblings -- Lloyd, Mae, Ralph, James, Clyde, Earl, and Dale -- by more than 25 years, she was also preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Vance L. Butler on Nov. 5, 1989; sons-in-law, Robert H. "Bob" Tyler in 2003, and Roger E. Becker in 1971.

Memorials may be made to the Chapter AP Scholarship Fund, in care of Nita Libby, 3440 Lewis Road, Riverton, WY 82501, or through the Davis Funeral Home, 2203 West Main, Riverton, WY 82501.

On-line obituaries are available and condolences for the family may be made at: thedavisfuneralhome.com.

Service are under the direction of the Davis Funeral Home of Riverton.