Harry Butman, 101, Was Fedrated Church Pastor

Dr. Harry R. Butman, pastor of the Federated Church in Edgartown from 1932 to 1937, died of natural causes at his home in Acton, Calif. on July 29. He was 101.

He was born on March 20, 1904 in Beverly, the son of John C. and Elsie (Raymond) Butman. When he was a teenager he felt a call to become a minister. He was graduated from Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine in 1928 and served in churches in Key West, Fla., and Melton, Vt. before he was called to the pastorate of the Federated Church where he was formally ordained.

After leaving Edgartown he served parishes in Randolph and Dedham before he became pastor of the Church of the Messiah in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1953. He received his doctor of divinity degree from Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga. in 1958.

After serving the Church of the Messiah for 25 years he retired in 1978. However, his retirement was short-lived for he immediately became the interim minister of the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles and remained there until September of 1981.

He was long active in the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, serving three times as chairman of the executive committee, heading its commission on the ministry three times, and was elected moderator of the denomination. In addition to writing numerous articles for The Congregationalist, the NACCC magazine, he was for some years its editor. As an official at the NACCC, and as the first chairman of the international fellowship of congregational churches he traveled to Great Britain, Nigeria, and New Zealand.

His writings include A History of Randolph, The Far Isles, a young-adult South Sea story, The Measure of the Immeasurable, a collection of favorite sermons, The Lord's Free People, about congregationalism in America, Serve With Gladness, an account of his pastoral experiences, Pastor Paul, The Desert Face of God, and Brown Boy, the tale of his much-loved Abyssinian cat. He also contributed articles to the Vineyard Gazette.

As in his Vineyard days and subsequent Island vacations he took great pleasure in exploring the reaches of Vineyard and Nantucket Sound, so in his retirement he spent many happy (and sometimes perilous) hours in exploring the vast Mojave Desert in a series of pick-up trucks.

Jennette S. Butman, his wife of 62 years, died in 1991. He is survived by his children, Beverly of Edgartown, Raymond of Alta Loma, Calif., Jack of Silver Springs, Fla., and Edgartown and Jennette Morgan of Canton. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.