Robert Cleave Butson

Littleton, NH — Bob Butson died peacefully in his sleep during the early hours of July 2nd - his daughter, Jill, by his side; his sons, Chad and Jared, and partner of 27 years, Eleanor Drury, having been bedside in the days and nights just prior. He passed away at home, looking out on Partridge Lake, under Hospice Care. Cause of death was Glioblastoma. The Oncology Team at Massachusetts General Hospital gave him the best of care from October 2019 to his passing. North Country Hospice & HomeHealth Care in Littleton, NH, gave invaluable support. Bob lived his life to the fullest - sensitive to the needs of others and intuitive about how best to lend a hand - while exhibiting his unique and wonderful sense of humor, laughing and celebrating the joys of friendship and family.

He loved fly fishing with his sons, beating his daughter at cribbage, watching his grandsons play baseball or hockey, playing golf or tennis, skiing full tilt down Cannon, x country skiing or hunting in the Lisbon and Lyman woods, and walking or bird hunting with Eleanor and his dogs. Bob loved the outdoors, and the competitiveness and beauty of sport. While gracious in defeat, he liked to win - and often did. Most of all, however, Bob loved his family.

Bob is survived by his sister Becky Schuyler; sons Chad and Jared Butson; daughter, Jill Lambert; grandsons Sebastian, Zavier, Max, Miles, Andrew and Wyatt; nephews, Shawn and Chris Schuyler; his partner Eleanor Drury; and daughters-in-law, Stacey Cotey and Laurie Butson. Bob's friends, and the students he taught or coached, are too numerous to count.

He went through school where he was born, to Ernest and Margaret Presby Butson, June 17, 1947, and where he grew up - in Lisbon, New Hampshire. While in College, he married his High School sweetheart, Constance Smith, now Halterman He holds Undergraduate and Masters degrees from Plymouth State University, formerly Plymouth State College. Bob Butson lived always by "Northern New Hampshire" values – commitment to community, to family, to truth, to the beauty of the outdoors, and to leaving his world a better place. He kept the accent to the end. His professional life began in Stratford and then Whitefield, NH, at White Mountains Regional School. He famously coached a rural soccer team to State Championship – having learned the sport from a textbook. "Mr. Butson" went on to be Athletic Director, then Assistant Principal, then Co Principal at Peterborough's ConVal Regional High School from 1980 to 1997. In 1998, the Lisbon Regional School named him Principal He retired in 2004. Bob Butson will long be remembered by the students he mentored, and by their parents. His proudest achievements outlive him: Co Founding the Lisbon Regional School Education Foundation and the Northern New Hampshire Boys and Girls Club.

A Memorial Service will be held for Bob in Lisbon, NH, at the Shared Ministry Church, 49 Main Street, on July 15th, at 1:00PM. A Reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, please direct contributions in his memory to the Lisbon Regional School Education Foundation (lisbonfoundation.org), or to the Boys and Girls Club of the North Country (bgcnorthcountry.org).

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