Richard John Butler 1955 - 2022

John was born on the 10th June 1955 at Mount Street Hospital to
Richard and Pat. After a very long and painful labour, Dad who was
already one of four brothers, declared sarcastically to Mum ‘better
luck next time’ after seeing another boy brought into the Butler
family.
John wasn’t an easy baby and Mum endured many sleepless nights;
she would often tell us that she was tempted many times to throw
him to the bottom of the bed. Despite the many restless nights, three
years later I arrived followed by twins Martin and Helen – and the
Butler family at Trotter Hill was complete.

John attended Claughton Primary School, one abiding memory of his
was the dreaded ‘Fish Friday’ and what he referred to as ‘the walk of
death’. There was Fish and chips one Friday and the dreaded fish and
mash the next, he really hated mash ever since. His love and hate of
certain foods was often a source of annoyance and great laughter in
our family, from his love of peas to his great aversion to carrots there
were many jokes shared across the dinner table – most times at his
expense.

John met the true love of his life in October 1983, when the Massey
Ferguson was traded in for a X reg 2140 John Deere. With the perfect
body in a gleaming green shade it was love at first sight and John’s
love of John Deere tractors grew from there. Coincidentally, it was
around this time when he met Sharen at a badminton club and she
soon realised that she would always come second. John played for
the Over Wyre and Mid Lancs team for many years and formed
lasting friendships with Robert and Anne, Tony and Jean.

John and Sharen were married on 7th May 1988 at St Christopher’s
Church and soon settled into a happy life in Goosnargh where they
still lived. Recently celebrating 31 years of marriage they were a
team, each complimented one another even though they were
opposite in so many ways, Sharen works at 600 miles an hour,
constantly on the go whereas John making a decision could take days.
They were confidents, soul mates, each others sunshine no matter
what the weather.

John and Sharen proudly welcomed Hayley Louise on the 8th May
1990 followed by Danielle Jayne on the 24th November 1992 – his two
daughters were his greatest and proudest achievement and he could
not have been a prouder dad to them both. The girls adored their
Dad and a weekly rota had to be created for many years to mark out
who would sit next to him on a Saturday morning at breakfast time, a
weekly ‘H’ or ‘D’ would be put on the calendar and they took it in
turns to take their spot at the table.
John was also so grateful that the girls have 2 fantastic partners in
Andy and Robert and two grandoggies in Amber and Charli, they all
gave him so much joy.

In John’s final weeks he got to spend quality time with many friends
and family. On 2nd January a miracle happened, born nearly 3 weeks
early, John’s first grandchild, Reggie Richard Robinson arrived. It was
fantastic for him to be able to meet and hold his grandson and he
found real comfort in this. It was also wonderful for John to see
Danielle in her wedding dress and veil, I know that this would have
meant a lot to him and on the day we know he will be proudly
watching over her.
On behalf of the whole family we would like to thank everyone who
has supported us and helped out throughout this whole journey,
whether this be helping out on the farm, visiting John at home or just
checking in to see how we are all doing, the support we have
received has been overwhelming and it’s the little things that have
made a big difference.
Whether you knew John as John Butler, Big John or Johnny Bear he
was a great husband, dad, brother, uncle, grandad and friend to
everyone who knew him and will be sadly missed by us all.