| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Remembering Cortez Butler: A 1942 Lindsey Wilson love story She was the beautiful girl from Waterview in Cumberland County. He was a basketball star from Tompkinsville in Monroe County. They met in 1941 at Lindsey Wilson College, and shared a first kiss one year later on the steps of the Administration Building, igniting a romance which is now one of the great love stories of our place and time. Through it all, there are great memories of Lindsey Wilson College. The romance started 70 years ago. The marriage endured an amazing 68 years until the death of Mr. Butler. The story below, written by Duane Bonifer in 2009 and posted on CM 2009-10-23 06:22:03, is one of the all time great narratives ColumbiaMagazine has been privileged to post. It is reposted today, a timely reminder, even at a sad time, of a beautiful, timeless love story, which, like so many, had its beginning on the campus of Lindsey Wilson CollegeClick on headline for full story plus photo By Duane Bonifer, LWC Director of Public Relations Edmonton, KY couple celebrates at LWC, where romance started, in 1942 COLUMBIA, KY - Two Lindsey Wilson College alumni took a walk down memory lane Thursday afternoon on the A.P. White Campus. Ruth and Cortez Butler, both of Edmonton, KY, drove to Columbia with their children, Tez Butler and Connie Coleman, also of Edmonton, to celebrate their wedding anniversary, which is October 23, 2009. The four celebrated 66 years of matrimony at Mulligan's restaurant. But before lunch, the Butlers showed their children where the couple shared their first kiss. The kiss The kiss happened on an evening during the 1941-42 school year on what were once front basement steps leading into what is now the L.R. McDonald Administration Building. The front basement entrance to the 106-year-old building was closed more than 25 years ago, but a plaque hangs over the spot, commemorating the name of the campus. A.P. White was president of the college when the Butlers were students. Ruth Sewell Butler came to Lindsey Wilson from Waterview in Cumberland County, KY, and Cortez Butler came to LWC from Tompkinsville in Monroe County. The campus then Back then, the college had but four buildings: the Administration Building, the Gymnasium (which included Hundley Dining Hall in the basement), the Girls' Dormitory (now Phillips Hall) and the Boys' Dormitory (which later became Chandler Hall before being razed in the early 1980s). "I remember eating at the table with him one time," Ruth recalled Thursday morning. "Now the first year we were just good friends, and the second year we dated." A BMOC Cortez played basketball during his two years at LWC, first for Arthur Gullette, who founded LWC's basketball program; and then for John McQueary. In addition to two years on the basketball team, Cortez was also vice president of their 98-member sophomore class and was 1941 May Day king. May Day Queen Ruth was crowned May Day queen in 1942, and she was also a member of the Pep Club, Library Club, Pine Cone yearbook staff and tennis club.During their Thursday visit, the Butlers fondly recalled several Lindsey Wilson giants. In addition to White, they discussed the late physics professor and dean Asa Shelton, English professor Mary Meade and history professor Noma Dix Winston. Pearl Harbor They also remembered coming out of the Rialto Theater on the afternoon of Sunday, December 7, 1941, to learn that the U.S. naval base Pearl Harbor had been attacked by Japan's air and naval forces. "I don't remember the movie, but I just remember Sunday afternoon coming out of the movie and people were yelling," Ruth said. Ruth said she and the other residents of the Girls' Dormitory pleaded with the hall's matron, Jettie Josephine Duncan, to allow them to listen to the radio that night past the 10pm, the time when all lights and radios were turned off. "We were naive enough to think the war was going to be over that night," she said. "We wanted to hear the war end. ... (Duncan) had lived through World War I and she said, 'Oh children -- children you have no idea what this means. Most of the boys over in that building (the Boys' Dormitory) will be going to war.' We had no idea what we were in for." After graduation from Lindsey Wilson, Cortez enlisted in the Naval Air Force and got his wings. The airman "I couldn't drive a car, but I could fly a plane," he said. After Cortez received his commission, he and Ruth were married in New Orleans on his way to an assignment in Florida. Cortez served in the South Pacific Theater until the war finally did end in 1945. Memories Cortez continued his basketball career at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, now known as Tennessee Tech. After college, Cortez taught and coached basketball at the former Marrow Bone (KY) High School, and then taught and coached basketball at Metcalfe County High School before retiring as that school's guidance counselor. "We loved it here and got so many good memories here," Ruth said. This story was posted on 2012-06-20 08:04:57
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. (AD) - Many Reunion organizing efforts are also advertised in our REUNIONS category in our CM Classifeds. These are posted at a very low cost. See RATES & TERMS
More articles from topic Local History:
The Hill: (Jamestown Hill) as it was commonly known Remembers when the Fortune Street dispensary was a Cab HQ Taylor Co. KY Historical Society Annual Meeting, June 19, 2012 Dave Burton, now Tarheel, descended from Adair's NC People H.P. McDonald ironwork album Several families in Ashe Co., NC named Greer E.L. Dohoney farm is now home of Mr. and Mrs. Wally Burress 100 years ago: ripped from the front page of the News Old Church Bell guards another piece of Nazarene history Adair County Class of 1962 Members View even more articles in topic Local History |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
