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Former mayor, community leader Isabelle Butters passes away

Margaret Isabelle Butters was born and raised on a farm south of the City of Weyburn, and she passed away on Sunday.
Isabelle Butters2

Margaret Isabelle Butters was born and raised on a farm south of the City of Weyburn, and she passed away on Sunday.

She was a leader in community affairs in the City of Weyburn, first as an alderman, when they still were called that, for 12 years and then as mayor for six years, from 1977 to 1982. She served on the Weyburn Union Hospital board and executive, the Arts Council, the Recreation and Parks Board, the Weyburn and District United Appeal, the Weyburn Ladies Curling Club, the Alexandria Rebekah Lodge and the Quota Club of Weyburn, a member of the Community Development Committee and the Aid for Aging Committee.

She was employed by the Weyburn Co-operative Association for 39 years and was General Manager of that organization for almost a decade. She was a member of the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce, president of the Special Care Homes Corporation, was an active member of Grace United Church, including serving as chairperson of its Board of Stewards, and volunteered with the Heart and Stroke Foundation for many years. Isabelle was installed as Marshall at the International Association of Rebekah Assemblies in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was a long-time member of Alexandria Rebekah Lodge No. 14 in Weyburn.

At the provincial, national and international levels, she was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Ill, the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts Board, the Co-op Guarantee Board, and the Saskatchewan Division, Canadian Arthritis Society which she served as president for three years.

She was a member of the Oddfellows World Eye Bank and Visual Research Committee and is past president of the Rebekah Assembly of Saskatchewan. Isabelle is past chairperson of the Finance Committee of the International Rebekahs, was a committee member of the Job Creation Program Advisory Committee for Saskatchewan and Canada and was area vice-president for Canada, Quota International. She has received several honours, the most noteworthy being the Order of Canada in 1980.

Isabelle served on the Weyburn Library Board and the Southeast Regional Library executive, served as chairperson of the Weyburn Public Library Board and chairperson of the Regional Board’s Policy Committee. She was a member of the former Library Development Board, and was presented with an Honourary Life Membership Award by the Saskatchewan Library Trustees' Association in 1987.

She spearheaded the committee for the Tommy Douglas statue, along with the late Ross McMurtry, which was unveiled by the Souris River in 2010, and she also helped McMurtry and a committee to have the Pioneer Woman statue created and installed at Fifth Street and First Avenue.