Ruby Lou Butler

Ruby passed away on January 27, 2025, just months short of her 100th birthday. She was an Opp Alabama Nursing Home resident, where she spent the last several years in declining health. She was born on July 11, 1925, the first of 5 children to parents Essie Lou Wasden Vaughn (1909-1995) and Mercer Clustus Vaughn (1903-1984). Her younger siblings all preceded her in death: Meriam Edwina Vaughn Waren (1927-1991), Frances Eloise Vaughn Bailey (1929-2023), Doris Ouida Vaughn (1931-1932) and James Ray Vaughn (1933-1973).

Ruby had long and lasting ties to Pensacola, Florida. She grew up in Walnut Hill, Florida. After she graduated from high school, she and her sister Frances frequently visited Pensacola, which in the late 1930s and early 1940s was filled with young men training at the Naval Air Station. This surely made the city even more interesting than the white sand beaches! Ruby then moved to Pensacola, lived in a boarding house, and met the young man for whom she had carried a torch her entire life. Lt. George Lee Bissette (USMC) was training to be a pilot, and they fell in love. Ruby kept the many letters she received from Lt. Bissette and displayed a studio photo of him in uniform in her later years. Lt. Bissette was killed when his plane crashed in North Carolina on June 29, 1944. Mourning the loss of this first love, Ruby was charmed by James Clayton Butler (Jimmy) and after a brief courtship, they married on September 15, 1944. Ruby and Jimmy had three children: George Delano (Del) Butler (wife, Jean Martin Butler), James Richard (Ric) Butler (wife, Alice Burkett Butler) and Rebecca (Becky) Ouida Butler Stapleton. Besides raising three children, Ruby was a partner to her husband Jimmy in his business ventures, which included restaurants in Pensacola (Dell's Cafe and the Starlight Drive-in) and at Pensacola Beach (Butler's Restaurant and the Tiki House). These were places where you could enjoy a fine breakfast, BBQ from the drive-in and "meat or fish and three" for dinner as well as hamburgers and fries at the beach. In the 1960s and early 1970s, these were all very popular places, but running a restaurant was a time-consuming and exhausting business. Jimmy had several health issues and he died at a young age in 1975.

Ruby was a beautiful woman and had several suitors after Jimmy's death. However, she did not remarry and found ways to support herself as a single woman, such as working for several years at Moulton's Drugstore in downtown Pensacola. After she retired, she relocated to Opp, Alabama, where her son Ric and his wife reside.

Ruby was a woman of faith and encouraged her children to follow her example. She loved animals and there was always a pet dog for her children as they were growing up. In her final years, she became extremely fond of cats and besides having them as pets, once she needed to reside in a nursing home where she could no longer have one as a pet, she wore clothes with cat decals and enjoyed books about cats.

Besides her three children, Ruby is survived by her grandchildren: Stacey Butler Long (husband Mark), Rhonda Butler Mullins (husband Reece), Michael Butler (wife Tiffany), Anna Butler, Alicia Ouida Stapleton Bennett (husband Sandy), John Stapleton (wife Emily) and Angie Lou Stapleton Caruthers (husband Cliff) along with a host of great-grandchildren and extending branches of cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Ruby is returning to Pensacola to lie beside her husband and the father of her children at Bayview Memorial Park. May she rest in peace and may her memory be a blessing.

A grave side service will be held at Bayview Memorial Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida February 13, 2025, 10 am.