Samuel Hale Butterfield

Samuel Hale Butterfield Samuel Hale Butterfield, resident of Moscow, passed away on Oct. 31, 2008 in Bellevue, Washington, due to complications following surgery. He was one week shy of his 84th birthday. Samuel Hale Butterfield lived a fulfilling life of service, adventure and hard work combined with a playful sense of humor. He was a man of great compassion, integrity, honesty and sense of justice. He was passionate about politics and making the world a better place-from his early school days in Moscow, Idaho; to his illustrious career in the Foreign Service overseas; to his final days vigorously campaigning for Barack Obama. Sam was a gentleman of the old school; always dapper in dress, with courtly manners, well-traveled and erudite. He was as comfortable at the Symphony as he was trekking mountain trails to a remote village on the slopes of Mt Everest to discuss soil erosion problems with local herdsmen. Sam was born in Moscow Idaho on Nov. 8, 1924. He attended Ursuline Academy (St Mary's School) and Moscow High School, graduating in 1942. While a student at MHS he was a cheerleader, student body president and continuing source of noise. After a tour of military service during WWII in Italy, Germany and North Africa with the Army Air Force, Sam returned to college at the University of Idaho. At UI he met Lois May Herrington of Boise, Idaho. They married on Feb 10, 1948 and embarked on 60 years of happy marriage. He transferred to Georgetown University, where he earned both his BA in Foreign Service (1949) and his Masters in Economics and American History (1953). Sam and Lois Butterfield lived in the Washington DC area during his early years with the U.S. Government, where his three children were born. His primary career focus was working to reduce Third World Poverty. He was a Senior Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He was posted during the 60's to Tanganyika, Sudan, and Tanzania. In 1968, he returned to Washington DC to attend the Senior Seminar, a year-long executive leadership course. From 1975-1980, Sam was USAID Mission Director to Nepal. Following his retirement in 1981, he was awarded USAID's "Outstanding Career Achievement Award." In 1981, Sam and Lois settled in his hometown of Moscow, where he taught upper-level courses at the University of Idaho. Within a few years, they were again lured overseas to continue his international development service in Botswana and Nepal in the late 80's and early 90's. In 2004, Butterfield published the first definitive history of US development aid programs; the culmination of nearly 10 years of research and writing. This major work is called "US Development Aid-An Historic First: Achievements and Failures in the Twentieth Century." Sam has been an active community volunteer in his 25 odd years in Moscow, both in politics and in his unflagging support of the Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestra. Both Sam and Lois Butterfield received "President's Awards" for distinguished volunteerism from the Washington Idaho Symphony in 1995 and 1998. In 1999, Sam was inducted into the UI Alumni Hall of Fame. Sam greatly enjoyed tennis, golf and vigorous walks, and was an active alumni supporter of his UI fraternity, Beta Theta Pi. He delighted in reconnecting with many old childhood friends still in the Moscow, Idaho area. Sam's beloved wife Lois recently passed away in June, 2008 after a brief illness. Sam is survived by his three children: Charles Butterfield (Hester), Stephen Butterfield (Jo-Linda) and Susan Waite (Chad); as well as eight grandchildren: Alexis Waite, Charles Prescott Waite, Elizabeth Butterfield, Stephen Waite, Emily Butterfield, Bennett Butterfield, Winston Butterfield, Lowell Butterfield.