MOUNT DESERT – Gladys Whitmore Butler, 88, died peacefully Oct. 31, 2006,at home, after a long, slow decline from Alzheimer’s disease. Born Jan. 13, 1918, in Honolulu, she was the daughter of John L. Whitmore of Southwest Harbor and Edna May (Thompson) Whitmore. Despite spending the first 16 years of her life in Hawaii, Gladys always considered herself a ‘native’ of Southwest Harbor, the birthplace of generations of her father’s family. Gladys’ memoir, “A Man from Maine,” describes her father and the joys of her childhood being raised on the Hawaiian Pineapple Co. plantation in Wahiawa, where her father worked 30 years with James Dole in the formative years of that company. She describes her early visits back to Southwest Harbor, where her mother returned in the mid-1930s after the death of her father. She loved riding and acquired the lifelong pleasures of writing, swimming and playing Hawaiian music on the ukulele at the Punahou School, where she graduated in 1934. At 16 she came east to attend Smith College where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, as a member of the Class of 1938. Gladys met her late husband of 67 years, E. Farnham Butler in the spring of her junior year of college when she came to his Mount Desert boat yard on Somes Sound to buy a small sailboat, named ‘Pilikia’ – trouble in Hawaiian. With their marriage in 1938 she moved to Maine. In addition to becoming a lifelong sailor and first mate during 60 years of extensive cruising on the Maine coast, she helped Farnham at the boatyard, raised four children and developed a skill and love of cooking, knitting and crocheting. Active, healthy and athletic throughout her life, she loved playing tennis, sailing, swimming, singing and walking with friends and family. Her love of music and familiar songs stayed with her to the very end of her life. Gladys’ and Farnham’s contributions to their community were recently recognized by the town of Mount Desert. It was Gladys who was elected to the school board, reportedly the first woman elected to office in the town. She was important to the consensus that led to adoption of the plan for an island-wide high school. She also served on the Mount Desert Island Hospital Board. In the 1950s, she was a founder of the Mount Desert Child Guidance Association, bringing the first counseling resources to the island. Gladys greatly enjoyed teaching through the Literacy Volunteers and adult education at Mount Desert Island High School. She valued the friendship of young students struggling to master specific courses to complete their high school degree as well as the gifted students seeking advanced mentoring. In 1987 she received the Distinguished Adult Education award from the MAPSAE for helping adults with completion of their high school degree. Creative writing was central to her life and she derived great pleasure from friendships forged in the Somesville Literary Society and other writing groups. Gladys is survived by her four children, Lydia Goetze of Southwest Harbor, E.F. “Ned” Butler Jr. of Southwest Harbor, Elizabeth Beardsley of Bangor and John Butler of Mount Desert; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Services, according to her wishes, will be a private family gathering. Family members are very grateful for the home care she received and in lieu of flowers, donations to the Hancock County HomeCare and Hospice, P.O. Box 156, Blue Hill, ME 04614 or to your local hospice organization, would be most appreciated.
GLADYS WHITMORE BUTLER
