Eddie Butler, Jr.

EDDIE ISAAC BUTLER, JR. (AKA BUDD, WJ OR JUNIOR), WAS THE FIRST CHILD BORN TO THE LATE EDDIE ISAAC BUTLER, SR, AND MARY ELLEN BUTLER ON SEPTEMBER 4, 1943, IN HERRING TOWNSHIP (CLINTON), NORTH CAROLINA.

EDDIE ATTENDED PUBLIC SCHOOL IN NORTH CAROLINA AND NEW YORK CITY. HE WAS EMPLOYED AT U.S. STEEL IN AUBURN, NY, UNTIL HE BECAME DISABLED IN 1980. 

EDDIE LOVED HIS FAMILY, ESPECIALLY HIS “MAW.” THAT WAS NO SECRET. SHE LIVED WITH HIM FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS AND TOOK CARE OF HIM AND HIS FAMILY IN ROCHESTER, NY. WHEN HIS DAD WAS ILL, HE MOVED TO SALEMBURG, NC, AND TOOK CARE OF HIM UNTIL HE DIED. AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS DAD, HE STAYED AND TOOK CARE OF HIS AUNT POLLY.

EDDIE MOVED AROUND A LOT. HE LIVED IN GEORGIA WITH HIS DAUGHTER, TOYA, AND HIS NIECE LYNNETTE IN FRANKLIN SQUARE, NY, THEN MOVED TO ROCHESTER TO BE WITH HIS CHILDREN. FROM THERE, HE MOVED IN WITH HIS SISTER JUANITA IN MASSAPEQUA, NY, NEXT STOP WAS WITH HIS CHILDREN IN NEW JERSEY, THEN HE WENT BACK TO ROCHESTER, NY WHERE HE STAYED UP UNTIL HIS DEATH. WHILE LIVING WITH LYNNETTE, HE HAD A SIX-YEAR-OLD BEST FRIEND, LESYA, WHO, FOR SOME REASON, THOUGHT SHE WAS HIS FAVORITE NIECE. WE HAVE AUDIO PROOF THAT SHE WAS NUMBER TWO AND WHO WAS NUMBER ONE.

EDDIE WAS A GREAT STORYTELLER, HOWEVER, THAT MUST BE A BUTLER GENE, AS WE HAVE SO MANY OF THEM. HIS SENSE OF HUMOR AND WIT WERE UNMATCHED – WHAT YOU SAY?! SOMETIMES HE WOULD TELL A STORY, CRACK HIMSELF UP UNTIL HE FELL OUT OF HIS SEAT WHILE SLAPPING HIS HANDS TOGETHER. THAT WOULD ALWAYS TAKE OUT WHOEVER WAS HIS AUDIENCE OUT. HE LOVED HAVING AN ENJOYABLE TIME. HE MAY HAVE BEEN BLIND; HOWEVER, HE WAS FAR FROM DISABLED. HE DID THINGS LEGALLY AND NOT-SO-LEGALLY WHILE BEING BLIND. HE COOKED SOME OF THE BEST AND PRETTIEST FRIED CHICKEN, AND MADE BUTTER BEANS THAT WOULD MAKE YOU WANT TO SMACK SOMEONE. WHETHER IT WAS TAKING HIM TO THE MOVIES, SHOPPING, THE KINGDOM HALL, OR CHURCH, IT WAS BOUND TO BE AN EXPERIENCE. HE WORE SHADES FOR YEARS, ALTHOUGH HE COULD NOT SEE, 

CAUSING PEOPLE TO NOT REALIZE HE WAS BLIND.

EDDIE WAS A LADIES’ MAN UNTIL HIS LAST DAYS. WHEN ASKED, ABOUT SIX WEEKS PRECEDING HIS DEATH, HOW MANY BABY MOTHERS DO YOU HAVE? HE SAID 27 AND STOOD ON BUSINESS WHEN HE SAID IT, SAYING, “I SAID WHAT HE SAID!” 

PRECEDING EDDIE IN DEATH ARE HIS BROTHER JOHN LEWIS BUTLER, HIS DAUGHTER JESSIE BUTLER-FERNANDEZ, SON JOSHUA BUTLER, AND GRANDDAUGHTER LUCY FERNANDEZ.

HE IS SURVIVED BY HIS WIFE, MINNIE BUTLER; HIS CHILDREN REGINA JONES, EDDIE BUTLER III, JEANNETTE CARTER, PAUL BUTLER, GREGORY BUTLER, ANTHONY BUTLER, LATOYA BUTLER, JOSHUA BUTLER, THREE STEP-CHILDREN AUDREY BROOKS, JAMES BROOKS AND PEARLIE JOHNSON, AND A HOST OF OTHERS THAT WE DO NOT KNOW ABOUT; ONE BROTHER, ALBERT BUTLER OF CENTRAL ISLIP, NY, SISTER, JUANITA BUTLER OF MASSAPEQUA, NY, SISTER EDNA BUTLER LAST KNOWN, HARTFORD, CT AND SISTER TERESA ANN BUTLER OF GREENSBORO, NC; GRANDCHILDREN ANDREA BUTLER, LENESIA BUTLER, LYNETTE TUCKER, THELMA MCKAY, PAUL BUTLER, JR, CRYSTAL BUTLER, GIOVANNI BUTLER (JESSICA BUTLER), ZAMIRZAHMIR BUTLER, JENNIFER FERNANDEZ, JESSICA FERNANDEZ, THE LATE, M. AHMED TIJANI HARVEY, M. HUSSEIN BUTLER, UBAIDULLAH BUTLER, HASANAH ZUBAIDAH BUTLER, NAJMA ANTHONY STAMPS, DALIYAH BUTLER, SIDDIQA BUTLER, AND A HOST OF GREAT GRANDCHILDREN, NIECES AND NEPHEWS. 

Funeral Service will be Saturday, June 7, 2025 at Butler & Son Funeral Home- Roseboro, NC at 11:00 am.

Interment: Beaver Dam  MBC Cemetery, Clinton, NC 

Public Viewing will be Friday, June 6, 2024 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. 
 

Butler & Son Funeral Home, Inc

Roseboro, NC 

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