Tuesday, August 10, 1999
Memories fill books
94-year-old preserves Warren history
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Burnett Butterworth, 94, spends countless hours working at Pioneer Village in northern Warren County.
(Michael Snyder photo)
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WAYNESVILLE — On page after page of notebook paper, Burnett Butterworth has retold the story of his life — and helped preserve glimpses of a bygone era.
He tells of skinny-dipping in Newman's Run Creek and flagging down trains to ride to Dayton for annual shopping trips; of his father purchasing the family's first car, a 1918 Chevrolet, for $550; and the $800 salary he received six years later as a teacher.
“There are so many things I wish I had asked my dad and granddad,” said Mr. Butterworth, age 94.
He doesn't want his son, Kenneth, to have the same regrets. Mr. Butterworth's hope is these pages will hold the answers to questions about the past long after he is gone.
Mr. Butterworth knows, with the clarity and wisdom culled from nearly a century of living, that the past can be irretrievably lost unless people intentionally and purposefully work to preserve it. That's why he has filled 13 books with his recollections.
It's also his impetus for volunteering hundreds of hours over 25 years at Pioneer Village, a historic re-creation in northern Warren County of a frontier community with 19 log cabins. The oldest dates to 1793.
Mr. Butterworth has served as president, vice president, secretary and handyman for the village. And at 94, he has no intentions of retiring from the board of trustees for the nonprofit organization.
He helped rebuild about 15 of the log cabins, and is a charter member of the Friday crew, a group of retirees who come each week to perform maintenance and repair work on the cabins. He's also the senior member of the crew — by about 20 years.
“Over the past 20-something years, he's done a lot for the village,” said Kevin Hurt, administrator of the historic village.
""He's given stability to the village. He's always been very clear-headed about what should be done and how it should be done. He's one of the longest, most active volunteers we have.”
Mr. Butterworth said he began volunteering at Pioneer Village as a way to stave off boredom when he retired at age 70 after 50 years in education. He continued because of his desire to preserve history.
“I didn't want to sit in my rocking chair; I wanted to do something,” Mr. Butterworth said. “I'm convinced that moving around extends life.”
Until this season, Mr. Butterworth farmed 20 acres of corn and soybeans himself. He lives alone on a farmhouse less than 2 miles from where he was born and still drives.
“I figure if I quit driving a car for six months, I wouldn't have the nerve to get back out on the road with the way people drive these days,” he said.
Mr. Butterworth was twice married for more than 30 years. His first wife, Deborah, died in a car wreck in 1959 after almost 31 years of marriage. Mr. Butterworth married Kathryn two years later. She died in 1996.
Although longevity runs in the family — his father lived to be 100 years and six months old — Mr. Butterworth attributes his good health to clean living.
No drinking, cigarettes or drugs.
And, he said, “I guess I've just been lucky.”
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