Lawrence (Larry) Dale Butler

Lawrence Dale Butler (Larry), born January 7, 1943, to Howard and Dolores Butler, passed on February 7, 2025, in Delta, Colorado, at the age of 82.

Larry was born and raised in Avon, Illinois, along with six sisters and two brothers and worked on the family farm in Greenbush. At age 18, he set out from home with his older brother Vince with everything they owned fitting in a Volkswagen Beetle. They ended up in Denver, Colorado, where Larry fell in love with the Rocky Mountains. He worked at IBM and spent all of his off time exploring the Rockies in his CJ6 Jeep. He memorized every inch from the Front Range to the Western Slope while camping, fishing, and later on, motorcycle riding.

Larry had a passion for flying and began earning his ratings while moving around to different jobs that helped him also build flying time. Eventually, he moved to San Francisco to work for Western Airlines in operations where he met Susan. They began a whirlwind romance that spanned several moves and jobs until they ended up in San Antonio, Texas, where they were married, and Larry was a civilian flight instructor for the Airforce. It’s rumored that he ended up enlisted and flew combat missions in Vietnam during the war and was shot down over Cambodia where he was found alive but unconscious. After 90 days in a coma, he woke up in the states and Susan was notified he was alive as he was not initially identified when he was found.

They resumed their life together and once Larry recovered, he began flying for Western Airlines as a First Officer on the Boeing 727. After a short time at Western, Larry was furloughed with cutbacks at the airline, so he applied to be an air traffic controller (ATC) instead. He began training in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and excelled in his new position. Once Larry was ready for onsite training, he and Susan moved to Denver, Colorado, and started a family. Their first child, Robert, was born in September of 1970 and followed a few years later by their daughter Jenna in October of 1973.

The young family enjoyed Colorado but resumed adventurous moves as Larry moved up in his new profession. He became a tower controller in Pocatello, Idaho, a center (enroute) controller in Seattle, Washington, and then eventually transferred back to Denver Center in 1980. In 1981 during the controllers’ strike, Larry took a leave from ATC to explore being a mail carrier in Montana. After the strike, he rehired to be a center controller in Chicago, Illinois.

After a while Larry continued to move up in position and moved to Alaska to work at Anchorage Center. With a love for the outdoors Larry and his family found their place in Alaska and stayed for several years. Once Larry was approaching retirement he looked to return to his first love of Colorado and the Rockies. He and Susan bought land on the Western Slope and began plans for a retirement home there. Before fully retiring, Larry wished to be closer to Colorado to work on the land, so he transferred to Salt Lake City Center as his last position as a supervisor and controller.

Unfortunately, before he retired, Susan passed away from cancer in April of 1993. With both children grown, Larry took time to travel during his last few years of work.

Once retired in 1996, Larry had an opportunity to consult for the FAA and travel in that capacity. One of his favorite countries to travel to was Russia, and he spent a significant amount of time there in retirement. Through friends in Russia, he met his current wife Elvira, and they began a relationship with Larry visiting as often as possible. When the time was right, Elvira and her daughter Kristina came to the US and quickly became a part of the Butler family. Larry and Elvira were married in September of 1999 and went on many adventures, traveling as often as possible while raising Kristina.

Larry also settled into partially retired life in western Colorado working at one point for Colorado State University, growing crops for the local farmers market, and working on projects on his land. In his later years, Larry loved watching air crash investigations on YouTube and spending time with his family.

Larry had a big undeniable personality with a love for life. He was intelligent, opinionated, knowledgeable, and mischievous. He loved aviation, history, geography, horticulture, geology, and was self-taught on many things. Larry led an exciting and full life making many friends along the way and he will be dearly missed.

Larry is survived by his wife, Elvira; his children, Robert, Jenna (John), and Kristina; his granddaughter, Misty; his brother, John (Sharon); his sisters, Clara (Mac), Linda (Zoley), and Marie. He is preceded in death by his parents, Howard and Dolores; his wife, Susan; his brother, Vince (Anita); his sisters, Diane, Patricia, and Sarah (Dick).

A service will be held in his honor at Taylor Funeral Service in Delta, Colorado, on Saturday, February 15th at 1pm.