Ed Butler was a university staff member in the late 1970s. He had served in the Marines prior to enrolling at MIU as an undergraduate student, where he met and then married Margaret Yoder Butler, the chair of the Literature Department at the time. Among other responsibilities, Ed helped students with the annual yearbook. After leaving the university Margaret trained as a minister in Iowa City, where they relocated.
His Indian dinners are said to be winners
By those whom he graciously fills
And that’s just a sample, a simple example,
Of some of his wide-ranging skills
He’s willing and able to sit at a table,
Evaluate dozens of papers
But sooner or later a Project WRITE grader*
Must handle unusual capers
There once was a student who wasn’t too prudent
He dared give a hard time to Ed
People inquired what later transpired
And widely the rumors were spread
When asked of his fate, the student would state
He’d needed the lesson for months
And he never knew he ever could do
So many pushups at once!
Ed is demanding and yet understanding
He’s hardness and softness combined
A seeker beside us, a leader to guide us,
A man with true heart and true mind.
He edits each year those books we hold dear
They shimmer and shine on our shelves
The books we discuss are reflections of us —
They curve us right back on ourselves.
Ed lived in Frisco, not doing disco —
Country and bluegrass he played
The budding musician with inner ambition
Lived off the wage he was paid.
A four-year Mariner, he sought grasses greener
Enrolling right here — MIU
He knew his guitar would carry him far:
It led him, dear Margaret, to you.
Ed finds completeness in Margaret’s soft sweetness
And yet he continues to grow:
Ed, ever yearning, continues his learning —
To Iowa City he’ll go,
To study geography — not just topography —
Ed will go down to the root
So subtle a field through Ed is revealed
It’s often been called Absolute
The field of study for Edward the Ruddy
Is truly a field of green
For Ed will fulfill it — Ed will instill it
With CI like nobody’s seen.**
1979
* Project WRITE was a writing-across-the-curriculum I help create and directed for my first eight years here. WRITE is an acronym for “Writing and Revising for Intelligent Thought and Expression.”
** Creative intelligence