Audie Lee Butler

EAST PRAIRIE -- Audie Lee Butler, 87, formerly of Bertrand, died at 7 a.m. April 6, 2007, at the Bertrand Nursing Facility.

Born Feb. 7, 1920, in Risco, son of the late David Sherman and Lillie Shaw Butler, he lived in East Prairie before moving to Smithland, Ky., in the late 1960s.

He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, serving in the 2nd Armored Division as a machine specialist. He returned to East Prairie after the war and managed a small farm along with his parents and worked as a foreman for the Betz-Tipton Veneer Company of Caruthersville from the late 1950s until he started his own company in Smithland. He returned to Southeast Missouri following the death of his second wife, later residing in East Prairie where he attended the First Christian Church.

He first married Elsie Frix who survives of New Madrid. He then married Mildred Parrish who preceded him in death.

In 2006, he married Patsy Hunt who survives of the home.

Other survivors include: one daughter, Jeannette George of Montreal; one son, David Butler of Tallahassee, Fla.; one sister, Leora VanWinkle of Rock Island, Ill.; and four granddaughters, six great-grandchildren; and many nephews, nieces and stepgrandchildren.

He was also preceded in death by three sisters, Ada, Sally and Mary Ellen; one daughter, Sharon Butler Powell; one stepdaughter, Barbara Singleton; and one stepgrandson, James Hockersmith.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until time of services at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

Burial will follow in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery.