Bev Butler

Bev Butler, whose funeral was on Monday at St Raphael's church on New Street, was a longstanding member of both the Federal and Provincial Liberal parties, and one of our most dedicated volunteers during at least three decades. The first campaign that he took a leading role in in Burlington was in 1988, when he campaigned in the federal election for James Smith. He then worked for the campaigns of Paddy Torsney, as well as every provincial campaign. During those years he filled numerous roles on the executives of the BPLA and BFLA , including vice-president of the BPLA, the resident technology and database expert at every election, and most recently he chaired the election readiness committees for the BFLA and BPLA.

Paddy Torsney remembers in 2004, when Bev actually missed election day because he was away on a cruise booked long before the writ dropped, that as the results came in the volunteers suddenly realised that nobody was tallying up the total number of votes. Bev had taken that role so often that everybody assumed it would just 'get done'.

That story also illustrates another point - Bev was a quiet and undemonstrative man who would get on and do jobs efficiently and without fuss, so quietly perhaps that people might not even appreciate the true extent of what he did. At the provincial election in 2011, Bev, who was not in the best of health and certainly could have been excused for taking a back seat, still dedicated many hours to data entry, learning two completely new database systems in the process.

Outside the Liberals, Bev had a long career of service to his country. He served in the military, including a period serving in Germany during the post war Allied occupation. Bev's post-military career saw him working and travelling with CN.

Everybody who knew Bev will miss him and his contribution, as we continue to miss the other Liberal friends we lost last year, John Boich and Wilf Gottfredsen. Our thoughts are with Joan and the entire Butler family.