Gerald Butler died Monday August 2, 1999 at the McCook Community Hospital in McCook, Nebraska. He was born August 23, 1931 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the son of the late Elvin and Wilhemina (Butler) Gillgam and brother to the late Elleen Gillgam. Gerald was adopted by his uncle and aunt, Fred and Alice (Adamson) Butler of Uehling, Nebraska after the death of his parents in 1938.

He moved to McCook in 1945 and graduated from high school there in 1949. After graduation he attended National School in Los Angeles, California where he completed training as a diesel mechanic.

On June 6, 1950, he married Donna Lee Holmes at the Memorial United Methodist Church in McCook, where he remained a lifelong member. The Butlers owned and operated McCook Locker before building and Operating Butler Beef Acres which they ran until retirement in 1991.

Gerald was also preceded in death by a son, Jerry Rhett Butler and a second sister, Mary Margaret Baxter.

He is survived by his wife, Donna Lee Butler of McCook and leaves behind a sister, Shirlee Markham and her husband Orville, of Ft. Collins, Colorado. His children include three daughters, Marcia Brasher and her husband Michael of Kennewick, Washington; Cynthia Brenning and her husband, Bradley of Olatha, Kansas; Vicki Anderjaska of Buffalo, Missouri; and one son, Steven Butler and his wife, Kim of Gretna, Nebraska.