Edith Harris Butt - Bramwell High School Class '33

OBITUARY, 11 April 2011, Bluefield[WV] Daily Telegraph :

Edith Harris Butt, of Coopers, W.Va., passed away early Sunday morning, April 10, 2010 in Princeton, W.Va. on her 94th birthday. Edith was wife the late Irvin W. Butt to whom she was married for fifty-five years and the daughter of the late Elbert Lee and Dora Jane Bell Harris.

She was born on April 10, 1917 in Coopers where she made her nearly lifelong home until her health began to decline. Edith was a member of the Coopers Methodist Church, and the Women's Society of Christian Service.

She was a graduate of Bramwell High School, Class of 1936 and a graduate of West Virginia Business College.

After her graduation, she worked for W. R. Keesee & Co. the West Virginia Department of Unemployment Compensation and later for the U.S. Post Office. She was also part owner of Flemingsburg Motor Sales in Flemingsburg, Ky. Her family was the most important thing in her life. She also loved to attend the Harris Family Reunion held in Salem, Va.

Edith was preceded in death by her sisters, Malta Frances Robinette, Lyndell Mae Wilburn, Rosa Lee Moore, Dorothy Helen Carter, Lois Marie Fleming, Margaret Jane Harris, Lillian Katy Harris; and brothers, Jesse Franklin Harris, Samuel Jackson Harris, Clyde Evert Harris, Clyde Estil Harris, Walter Irvin Harris, James Elbert Harris, Elbert Lee Harris, Jr. John Madesen Harris, and George Benjamin Harris. She was also preceded in death by several very special nieces and nephews including Wade Wilburn, Franchot Fleming, Jean Fleming, Margaret Robinette, Jimmy Robinette, Don Harris, and Milton Harris.

Edith is survived by her sons, Warren Butt and wife Ellen of Princeton, Wilson Butt and wife Martha of Bluefield; granddaughters, Casey Butt, Alice Akers and, Sarah Murphy; great-granddaughters, Sarah Jane Akers, Audrey Lynn Murphy, and Autumn Elizabeth Akers; and great-grandson, Jacob Kendall Akers.

She is also survived by many nephews, nieces including Charlotte Rich, Elbert Lee Harris, III, Robert Harris, William Harris, Norma Aliff, Dorothy Musick, Jane Wilburn, Bobby Wilburn; special friends and neighbors, Edna and Bill Keller and special friend Evelyn "Sissy" Williams. Ironically, Edith passed away only a few feet from the area where her grandfather, William Franklin Harris and three brothers fought in what is sometimes referred to as the "Battle of Princeton" or the "Battle of Pigeon's Roost" in May of 1862.

Graveside services will be held Wednesday, April 13 at 11:00 a.m. near the new mausoleum in the Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Bluewell. Her nephew, the Reverend George Bernard Harris of the Madison Heights Christian Church in Madison Heights, Va. will officiate. There will a short visitation at the Dudley Memorial Mortuary in Bluefield, Va. beginning at 10:15 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Bluefield Union Mission. Nephews, cousins and friends will serve as pall bearers.

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”

- Laurence Binyon