Francis W. “ Butch” Mayer, 62, a retired educator and a resident of Havre, died Friday, Aug. 31, 2007, at a Havre hospital due to complications of diabetes.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m Thursday at the Holland & Bonine Chapel. Burial with mi l i t a r y honors will be at the C a l v a r y Cemetery. A luncheon will follow a t t h e V. F.W. Club in Havre, B u t c h was born on April 25, 1 9 4 5 , i n Havre, the s o n o f Francis Anthony and Cecil Martha (Speyer) Mayer. Butch attended St. Jude’s School and Havre Central High School and graduated in 1963, and attended Northern Montana College for a short period of time.Butch enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1966. On December 2, 1967 at the Bethesda Naval Hospital Chapel h e ma r r i e d t h e fo rme r Katharine M. Dingle. After their marriage the couple lived in Fairfax, Va. In 1969, Butch served as a corpsman in Vietnam and was awarded two purple hearts for wounds he receieved He was honorably discharged in 1969. Upon his discharge the couple moved to Havre where Butch attended Northern Montana College and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelors Degree in teaching. He then taught school at Whitewater School and retired after 30 years of teaching at Whitewater. H i s hobbies were hunting, fishing, reloading shells, flowers, and vegetable gardening. Butch was a member of the Vietnam Veterans and the Havre V.F.W. He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife Katharine M. “Kathy” Mayer of Havre, daughters Lori Ann Mayer and Gina Williams, both of Havre; sisters Joyce (Larry) Kimball of Greenville, Ill., Janet Geiser of Lufkin, Tex., Martha Jean Wilson and Jack Seastrom of Malvern, Ariz., Marilyn Diane Kase of Tuscon, Ariz., Carolyn Ann Mayer of Havre, and Patricia (Carl) Jurenka of Great Falls, one Granddaughter and one Grandson and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. A scholarship for academics will be established at the Whitewater School in the name of Francis W. (Butch) Mayer. Services and arrangements have been entrusted to Holland & Bonine Funeral Home.
