
{"id":25337,"date":"2012-04-26T10:08:28","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T14:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=25337"},"modified":"2012-04-25T16:35:39","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T20:35:39","slug":"a-different-kind-of-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/04\/26\/a-different-kind-of-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"A different kind of giving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Brooke Parker<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Although she has been retired from teaching in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools for 20 years, Catharyne Jones Butler continues to give back to the community in new ways. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am still trying to keep my mind sharp,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Butler says. <\/p>\n<p>Born and raised in Cumberland County as the youngest of seven children, Butler graduated at the top of her high school class and furthered her education at Fayetteville State Teachers College. She and her husband, Ray Allen Butler \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who she met when she was 9 years old \u00e2\u20ac\u201c married in 1956. They became proud parents of two daughters, Kym Butler-James and Keva Butler-Towns, and now have three grandchildren.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25338\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25338\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2012\/04\/26\/a-different-kind-of-giving\/c-butler-1-of-3_web\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-25338\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/C-Butler-1-of-3_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"C-Butler-(1-of-3)_web\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/C-Butler-1-of-3_web.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/C-Butler-1-of-3_web-113x75.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/C-Butler-1-of-3_web-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/C-Butler-1-of-3_web-100x66.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/C-Butler-1-of-3_web-360x240.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25338\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Catharyne Butler has spent much of her life giving back, both through her 35 years of service in the school district as well as her work in the greater community.  Photo by Alicia Stemper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But beyond her own family, Butler has certainly made a difference in the lives of a number of children \u00e2\u20ac\u201c many of them now grown \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in this community. <\/p>\n<p>At the age of 21, Butler was hired to work in the public schools in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, which were still segregated at the time. During integration, Butler was assigned to Carrboro Elementary School, where she taught third, fifth and sixth grade for 13 years. She would remain an educator within the district for 35 years. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love kids, I really do,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Butler says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love school too. I hated when the summer came and I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to school.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Butler \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who has taught more than 1,000 children \u00e2\u20ac\u201c believes that all of her students need to be inspired and encouraged to continue their education.<br \/>\nBoth inside and outside the classroom, Butler took a special interest in her students, always trying to convey a particular message.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, you are worthwhile, and somebody thinks so,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Butler says. <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland Suitt, one of Butler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s former third-grade students, spent many afternoons helping Butler organize woodpiles in her backyard for the money he needed to buy basic necessities \u00e2\u20ac\u201c things he needed but wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been able to purchase without her help. <\/p>\n<p>In those afternoons, Butler taught Suitt that he had to work hard for what he got. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everything costs something \u00e2\u20ac\u201c nothing is free,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Suitt says. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I pride myself on helping people the way she helped me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he continues. Suitt, now 45, works for the American Residential Services, where he says he does just about everything from water purification to heating and ventilation. Suitt feels that he would not be as successful as he is today without Butler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guidance.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She is one of the reasons people know my name in Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Durham,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWoman of distinction\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Butler says she loved every moment of her work within the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools. She left the classroom in 1980 to serve at the Lincoln Center \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools central office \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as the district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s community liaison for low achievers. Having retired in 1992, she remains active in the community, her church and the schools.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I find myself busier now than I have ever been,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Butler says. <\/p>\n<p>After retirement, Butler found her way back into teaching when she noticed a need for substitute teachers and tutoring in the community. She continues to tutor, take care of her grandchildren, plan weddings and be actively involved in the church, still taking the same special interest in helping members of the community as she did as a teacher.<\/p>\n<p>At First Baptist Church in Chapel Hill \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where she has been a member since April 1968 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Butler started the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seeds of Faith\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ministry for youth and served on multiple committees. She currently serves as chair of the deacons\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ministry, assistant treasurer, chair of the pastor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appreciation committee, secretary of the ladies aid feeding ministry, is a member of the senior missionary circle and a member of the Sunday School and noonday prayer groups. <\/p>\n<p>Rev. Josephine Harris \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who also worked closely with Butler in the schools system \u00e2\u20ac\u201c speaks highly of Butler. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She continues to provide leadership that is encouraging and motivating,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harris says. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wherever she has been, she has risen to the top. She has a gift, and she continues to teach in her own way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Harris says she feels fortunate to work with someone she calls \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a woman of distinction.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the community<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Praise for Butler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work extends into the community. Cliff Collins of Cliff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Meat Market knows Butler as a regular customer, but also as a respected woman in the community. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always doing something to better someone else,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Collins says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone who just glows.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Butler has served on the board of directors of the United Way and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Public School Foundation. She has volunteered as a mentor for the Orange County Department of Social Services, working with teenage mothers. She has been a member and president of the Women of Distinction.<br \/>\nButler says she has always felt a desire to give back to the community. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The community had been good to us all of these years, and I was raised in a house where my mother was always helping others,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she says. <\/p>\n<p>Her family, Butler says, was one that believed in service to others, and she needed to continue that tradition \u00e2\u20ac\u201c something she certainly did. <\/p>\n<p>As a caregiver, educator and leader within the community, Butler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s giving nature inspires the people around her. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although she has been retired from teaching in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools for 20 years, Catharyne Jones Butler continues to give back to the community in new ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25337"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25344,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25337\/revisions\/25344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}