Patricia Marlene Jones Butler

 Patricia Marlene Jones

January 1, 1934 – November 7, 2024

Patricia Marlene Jones Butler was a New Year’s baby, born on January 1, 1934 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Milton Eugene Jones and Marion Lurelle Hand. She passed away peacefully surrounded by her children on November 7, 2024 at Fairfield Village in Layton, Utah at the age of 90. As one great grandchild said, “Grandma, I love you and you’ve lived pretty long.”

Patricia always had an outgoing, friendly personality. Her mother said she was the child on the bus who talked to everyone. In 7th grade she was voted most popular student, a testament of her genuine interest in including those around her.

She spent time growing up in Virginia where she loved dancing in the warm rain wearing her swimsuit. At 12 years old, her parents divorced and she returned to Utah where she ended up graduating from high school as a Jordan Beet Digger. She moved back east to live with her dad for a short while, taking some college courses at Georgetown University before finishing a degree in English from BYU. She served a mission to France and French-speaking Geneva, Switzerland for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and accepted a position as a Junior High English teacher afterwards.

As a young woman, Patricia said she never wanted to marry a man named “Joe” because it sounded like a “hairy truck driver”. She ended up marrying LeRoy in the Salt Lake Temple in 1961, only to find out well into dating his name was Joseph LeRoy and everyone except her called him “Joe”…and he was a truck driver, though he later became an elementary school teacher. Theirs was a loving marriage of 56 years yielding six children, 25 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren.

Patricia had a zest for life, expressing it in her love for sports, cultural arts, and politics. She tried to ignite a passion for these things in her children, grandchildren, and husband by paying for ballet, piano, painting, voice, and tennis lessons. She presented opportunities to them they might not otherwise have chosen for themselves. They often excelled in or enjoyed the activity, or at least appreciated the gesture. She was her kids’ and grandkids’ greatest fan, cheering and clapping for them loudly in the bleachers, or in the audience at a ballet, piano, or vocal performance.

Patricia danced with Orchesis Dance Company at BYU and received special attention in praise of her artistry by a visiting professional. She sang for years in the community Messiah and was selected to sing solos. She sang in the choir at her LDS church and in the choir at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. She participated in community musicals at Kaysville Hidden Hollow. She was a lifelong learner, taking piano lessons from her granddaughter, voice lessons from a friend in her mature adulthood, and voice lessons for the last two years and her last one just 2 weeks ago from an accomplished neuro-musicologist.

She had a tennis partner well into her 70s and she was last on the court when she was 84. She expressed several times, even later in life, a desire to get on the court and just hit a few balls, asking if that might be possible if we could somehow stabilize her.

She had a passion for politics, participating in a group called “Families Alert”, which actively lobbied for legislation that held true to the founders’ vision of America. She was a regular contributor to newspaper editorials, sharing pertinent issues and information on the political front. She celebrated “Faith, Family, Freedom, and Fun!” every 4th of July, and fervently observed Christmas and Easter, sharing her love of these religious holidays with her family.

Patricia conscientiously cared for her body (and her family’s), physically, mentally, and spiritually. She tried many diets requiring a lot of work that we didn’t always appreciate, like eliminating sugars entirely, and making homemade bread and granola. She was very vitamin supplement-savvy, and she stayed on top of the perils of questionable ingredients showing up in common daily products.

She loved the Bible and was often up until the wee hours of the morning studying and taking notes on her epiphanies of understanding covering the entire kitchen table with stacks of notes, religious books, the Bible, a giant concordance, and her old, 40 lb. manual typewriter. She loved Jesus! and conveyed that love through her joyful interactions, charitable service, church callings (including genealogy work) and relationships with others, especially her children and their families.

Yes. Patricia did live “a pretty long time” and we are so grateful and so blessed for it.

***

Patricia is survived by her children: Michal Anne Bouwhuis (Chet); Miriam Carter; Warren LeRoy Butler (Cheryl); LuAnn Purnell (John); Carol Lurelle Butler (James Guilkey); Thomas Joseph Butler (Michelle); By her siblings and half-siblings: Ronald Taylor Jones (Patricia); Mont Margetts (Peggy); Gwendolyn (“Wendy”) Anderson; Karen Winterbottom (David Cruden); Sandy Jones. By her 25 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

She is preceded in death by: Milton Eugene Jones (father); Marion Lurelle Hand Godfrey (mother); Joseph LeRoy Butler, Jr. (husband), Milton Eugene Jones, Jr. (brother); Calvin Carter (son-in-law)

***

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Salt Lake Rescue Mission: 100% Tax Deductible in US through our 501(c)(3) charity number 23-7177264.

ORDER VIDEOS