“Postpone nothing and make sure that the important people in your lives know that they are beloved.”
– Nancy Butler
Who is and was Nancy Butler?
Nancy lived a life void of guilt or regret, extending care, compassion, and gratitude towards everyone and everything she met.
Nancy’s Eulogy
HOPE
The “hope flags” that hung in Nancy’s house were handcrafted by her friends and family after her initial diagnosis in 2003. They were designed to emulate traditional eastern prayer flags as symbols of compassion, peace, strength, and hope. The flags was made individually with either a message or image of encouragement, hope, and love, then strung together to create a powerful representation of all the people who loved and cared for Nancy. Each flag is completely unique, designed specially by each of her friends and family to represent their love and wishes for her as she began her cancer journey. In times of despair, they provide hope and encouragement; in times of joy, they are reminders of all we have to be grateful for, from the experiences we share to the people we meet.
Nancy’s philosophy of postpone nothing inspired these musical tributes:
“Everywhere You Go”
By Vicky Curtis, Stuart Mathis
Vocals by Sara Aili, Stuart Mathis, Levi Mathis, Video by Holly Mathis
Timeline of Nancy’s Life Since Diagnosis
Diagnosed with stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer
Started chemotherapy.
Took care of her eldery father.
3 week trip to Australia
Hiked her 100th mountain
3 week trip to Romania
Where she had served in the Peace Corps.
3 week trip to Argentina and Chile
Continued Chemotherapy
Married her partner Lee Carpenter
Started building a new house with her husband in the San Luis valley
16 day raft trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon
Ed Butler, her father, passed away
Finished building her home in the San Luis Valley
Became foster parents
Caring primarily for a girl with developmental disabilities
Cancer came back and she began chemo indefinitely
3 week trip to Nepal
Achieved the Rio Grande Initiatie goal of conserving more than 25,000 acres of land along the Rio Grande River
2 week trip to Hawaii
2 week trip to Mexico during Hurricane Patricia
3 week trip to Peru and Uruguay
2 week trip to Canada
2 week trip to Belize
Went skydiving in Fort Collins
2 week trip to Mexico
Became exchange parents for a student from India
Put on oxygen as cancer spread into her lungs
1 week trip to Florida
Long weekend in Chicago
Nancy Butler passed away
She passed peacefully in the home she built with her husband in the San Luis valley along the Rio Grande River surrounded by family.
