Violet Mae Rose Butcher
“A Beautiful Rose”
March 7, 1924-August 12, 2017

Violet Mae Rose Butcher was born on March 7, 1924, her father’s birthday. It was a very windy, rainy, snowy day in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. Growing up in Blockhouse Run during the Great Depression, she was called Violet Mae. On October 31, 1947, she married the love of her life, John W. Butcher, who called her Vi. She always said that she dressed up as a bride for Halloween that year. I called her Mom, but it was when five month old Kellee stopped a church service to call her “Nanny” that she received the name that she really loved most of all. Eventually that is the name everyone in the family called her by, but she enjoyed it the most when Alexander Jaxson came along. After coming to AUMC, many more daughters and granddaughters would adopt “Nanny Vi.”
Vi was a loving wife and a superb mom. She made a wonderful home for her Johnny and me. She was born just before the depression and had to work very early in her young life, but she always had a very high regard for education and read every book she could get her hands on. She told me when I got to high school that I was going to college. The only choice I was given was which school I would attend, as long at was a religious based college. She gave Kellee the option of which graduate school she would attend. Mother loved Jesus, and that was all there was to the discussion!
Vi and Johnny were married for almost 40 years when she detected that something was wrong with Dad. As she made him go to the hospital, she had a conversation with Jesus. She informed Him that the only way she could give my Dad up was if Jesus would save him first. She wanted to walk the streets of Heaven with her Jesus and her Johnny. Well, what could God do but answer a prayer like that! After praying for her husband for years, Dad gave his heart to Jesus and Mother kept her part of the bargain, burying him a month later, on February 25, 1988.
Leaving her home and friends in Florida, Vi moved to Bryan, Texas to live with us. She would remain with us for the next 28 years through three more moves. She took good care of all of us and became Kellee’s best friend. I had twins, one 65 years old and the other 15. Nanny loved Kellee, and how she loved Kellee’s little boy!
Until she married, Vi had an extremely difficult childhood and young adult live, but throughout everything that happened to her she managed to hold onto her faith in Jesus. She read four chapters in her Bible every day and became the pillar of faith of our family. Her faith has now influenced the fourth generation. She managed to break the cycle that she grew up in and raise her family in the church. Vi would give the shirt off her back to anyone in need and never met a stranger. She always tried to make everyone around her laugh. Even the staff at the nursing home, who only knew her at her worst point, would come and tell us how much they loved my mother and how she always tried to make everyone laugh! She painted ceramics for years and love to put puzzles together- many of which are all over the house! She was a proud woman who believed that everyone deserves a chance in this life. She cared about others before she thought of herself. On August 12, 2017, a bright, warm and sunny day in Humble, Texas, she was finally granted her ultimate healing and went to be with her Jesus and her Johnny. Vi leaves behind:
John and Carol Bertsch- Son and Daughter
Mike and Kellee Smith- Grandson and Granddaughter
Alexander Jaxson Smith- Great Grandson
Robert Jackson Rose- Brother
Norman Rose- Brother
Seven brothers and sisters as well as her beloved John Butcher preceded her in death.

She will always be loved and missed until we get to walk down that road with Jesus and Nanny Vi in Heaven.