Obituary of Constance Mary Butt

Constance Mary

Butt

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Mrs. Constance Mary Butt after a prolonged illness on May 25, 2019 at the Corner Brook Long Term Care facility.  Connie is survived by her husband Robert (Bob), daughter Susan (Craig) Vokey, grandchildren Sarah, Ben and Shannon Vokey, and niece Kathleen (John) Domanico, as well as many close friends and “adopted family members”.  She was predeceased by her son Rob, sister Joan (Rudy) Shatney, brother Michael (Tish), and parents Henry and Alice (Dedombal) Jerome.

Connie was born in Madras, India but spent most of her young life in southwestern England, where she completed secretarial school and started her nursing training.  This was completed when her family moved to Ontario; she worked in a variety of places until meeting up with her then-surgical resident husband-to-be, Bob, in Montreal, QC.  The two were married in 1956, and spent the next several years travelling and working in Canada and the UK.  After a trip across the Atlantic on a Bowater’s paper boat with all their goods and chattels, including a precious blue VW Bug, they finally settled in Corner Brook, NL in 1961 where Bob started his general surgical practice and Connie threw herself with her typical abundance of energy into local community life and raising their children.

Connie will be remembered by all as the consummate volunteer, both in an organized as well as an ad hoc fashion.  She was active in the WMRH Auxiliary, particularly the gift shop, and was one of the founding members of the Corner Brook SPCA.  She also regularly volunteered for community gardening and kitchen initiatives, UNICEF, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Girl Guides, local greenhouses and school libraries, just to name a few.  Connie was an avid bird watcher, and regularly participated in the local natural history society birding events and the annual Christmas Bird Count for many years.  Bridge was another passion of Connie’s; she played actively for many years, regarding the game as a “necessary social skill”.  Many hours were spent with friends over the years honing her game

Connie could also be described as a fanatic golfer and gardener; her happiest year was probably 1988, when the province experimented with double daylight savings time.  This allowed her to tee off shortly after sunrise, play 18 holes and then garden until she “couldn’t see her hand in front of her face” - then get up and do it all again the next day!  She would tend her own plots, then truck around to help friends with their gardens; if someone wasn’t using their whole vegetable patch, she would “borrow” a few extra rows for the season as she hated to see good soil go to waste!

A memorial service will be held at First United Church in Corner Brook on Thursday, June 27 at 1 pm, Rev. John van Vliet officiating with a reception at the church to follow.

Donations may be made in Connie’s name to the NL West SPCA and the Western Memorial Hospital Auxiliary through the WMH Foundation.  Better yet, Mom would encourage you to take a page from her book and spend some time volunteering for an organization of your choice - and think of her while you’re doing it!  She will truly be missed.