Obituary: Margo Butler, 88, Longtime Volunteer and Advocate for Diversity

BIOGRAPHY

Marguerite “Margo” M. Butler was born in Chicago on Aug. 4, 1934, the only child of Russell Anderson and Mary Louise Higgins Anderson. A lifelong Evanstonian, she was baptized Roman Catholic at St. Mary’s Church. She attended St. Mary’s Elementary School and the Illinois Technical School for Colored Girls, run by the Sisters of Good Shepherd in Chicago. Graduating from Evanston Township High School in l951, she attended Evanston Business College, then Northwestern University as a part-time student, before going on to attend the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Roosevelt University. Margo married James E. “Lefty” Butler in 1952, and they had three sons. 

Margo would spend nine and a half years working for the federal government, first at the Fort Sheridan U.S. Army post; then for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab; then for the U.S. Dept/Agriculture. Margo then spent 18 years in corporate America; as an administrative specialist at IBM; as an administrative manager for Continental Airlines; and as a regional consultant for Xerox Corp., during which time she attended the former Xerox Document University in Leesburg, Va. She also worked for the diversity advocacy group Chicago United; and spent 10 years in the medical field, working at both Evanston Hospital and Baxter Labs, and managing a medical practice. She would then switch gears again, and spend another 10 years selling residential real estate in Evanston and on the North Shore. 

Margo was a community dynamo, with service work spanning years of volunteerism in Evanston schools, where she was a longtime PTA member, active with school boards at the former Skiles Junior High, King Lab School, and ETHS. A passionate advocate for diversity, she served on the one-time North Shore Committee for an Urban League, and on the Executive Committee for the NAACP, where she was a subscribing life member. She sat on the boards of the United Way and YWCA; and was a former member of the Auxiliary Board of VFW Snell Post #7186, and chaperone for the Snell Post Drill Team & Color Guard. 

A devout Catholic, her passion was her church. Ever concerned with nurturing a diverse community, Margo in 1998 founded the Evanston Area Black Catholics group to reach out to, support, and provide venues for black Catholics’ involvement in their local church and in the affairs of the Catholic church in the metropolitan region and internationally. For outstanding service and contributions to the Black Catholic Community of Metropolitan Chicago, Margo in 1998 received the Sister Thea Bowman Award from the Holy Angels Knights of St. Peter Claver Auxiliary. For the same devotion and service, she was presented the Father Augustus Tolton St. Nicholas Parish Award by the Office for Black Catholics of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1999, and the Dr. Nathan Jones Award in 2002. 

Margo was a member and secretary of the planning committee for the Black Catholic Convocation held in Chicago in 2000, and editor of its proceedings book. She served as local co-chair of the National Black Catholic Congress IX held in Chicago in 2002; was secretary of the ongoing Black Catholic Convocation Implementation Committee; and worked faithfully with the Chicago Congress Team until God called her home. “To say she was feisty is a understatement. She challenged me to be better,” said Andrew Lyke, Director of the Office for Black Catholics of the Archdiocese of Chicago. “She generously stepped in to assist and take the lead in our common work in the Church. It was easy to go deep with Margo because there was nothing superficial about her. The depth of her work matched that of her love.” 

At Margo’s beloved St. Nicholas Parish, she served as lector, Eucharistic minister and minister of care as a member over 50 years. She was the first chairperson of St. Nick’s Race & Ethnic Unity Committee; a member of the Parish Pastoral Council for years and its chairperson for two years; a member of the Finance Council since 2004; and a member of St. Nick’s Welcoming Committee and its Bereavement Committee. 

Margo enjoyed reading, cooking and traveling the world, and her travels covered most of the United States, including Alaska. She visited countries as close as Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico; and as far away as Amsterdam, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Tahiti. A trip to Ghana this summer fulfilled her dream to visit Africa. Survivors include her husband, James E. “Lefty” Butler; three sons, Michael, James and Russell; five grandchildren, Barbara Steele, Karli and Nina Butler, James Williams and Gary Dubose; and two great-grandchildren, Marcus McDowell & Zailen Siner, who all will miss her dearly but are comforted knowing a life lived for God is now with God. 

Friday October 11, 2013, 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM at Donnellan Family Funeral Services, 10045 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie, Illinois 60077 
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Saturday October 12, 2013, 8:15 AM - 8:45 AM at Donnellan Family Funeral Services, 10045 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie, Illinois 60077 
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Saturday October 12, 2013, 10:00 AM at Saint Nicholas Church, 806 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202 
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Saturday October 12, 2013, 11:00 PM at Oldershaw Hall, Saint Nicholas Church, 806 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202 
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Monday October 14, 2013, 10:00 AM at Memorial Park Cemetery, 9900 Gross Point Road, Skokie, Illinois 60076 
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Obituary reprinted with permission of Donnellan Family Funeral Services.