LYLA S. BUTLER
Graveside service: Private family burial at Bass Chapel Cemetery will be held at a later date. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, Greenlawn Funeral Home North, Springfield, Mo.
Lyla S. Butler, 95, was born Aug. 27, 1923, in North Dakota, the daughter of Andrew and Selma Luoma, who immigrated from Finland. She died Jan. 5, 2019.
She was raised on the family farm, near Fredrick, S.D.
During the Great Depression at the age of 16, she went with a carload of others and traveled to California, looking for work. She began doing live-in housework. When World War II began, she became a “Rosie Riveter,” working in war factories.
During this time, she began writing to her sister's brother-in-law, Clarence Butler, who was fighting in the Philippines. In February 1945, he was badly wounded and brought to the Army hospital in San Francisco, Calif., where they finally met. He was released and discharged in September 1945, they were married in September 1945, and they came back to his farm in Missouri.
On Oct. 28, 1946, their son, Maurice, was born.
They began dairy farming, and she did most of the milking for nearly 40 years.
In retirement, she enjoyed walking, sightseeing and Saturday night dancing, especially polka music that she grew up with.
Lyla was preceded in death by her parents; sisters: Marie and Sylvia; brothers: Victor, Wayne, Bernerd, Edgar and Ervin; her husband, Clarence; and her friend Larry Cummins.
Survivors include her son, Maurice Butler (Nancy); her brother, John Luoma, Aberdeen, S.D.; her grandchildren: Ramey (Pam), Diana Saylor (Scott) and Andy, as well as Nancy's daughters, Denna Baker (Bill), Jennifer Hoover (James) and Christy Lejune (Keith); 15 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. She also had a special bond with her great-granddaughter Samantha Saylor, who was the light of her life.
