Isabelle Butters, October 1998.
M. Isabelle Butters, an influential figure in Weyburn's commerce and community development, has received international, national, and provincial recognition. Born in Weyburn, April 22, 1929, she attended a rural school, then Weyburn Collegiate, and business school. In 1945, she began a forty-six-year career with the Weyburn Co-operative Association, serving as General Manager, 1978-91. Elected to city council in 1963, she served until 1976. In that year Butters became the second Saskatchewan woman to be elected mayor; she served until 1982.
Prominent in numerous organizations, she has been president of the Saskatchewan Library Trustees Association, the Arthritis Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the Special Care Homes Corporation. She has served on the Weyburn Arts Council, the Weyburn Community Health Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Weyburn Union Hospital Board and Executive, the Community Development Committee, the Aid for the Aging Committee, the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts Board, and the Public Service Appeal Board. Other involvements have included Quota Club (local and international), Rebekah Assembly of Saskatchewan, and the United Church.
The first of numerous awards came in 1979 when Butters was named a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1980 she received the Weyburn Citizen of the Year (Chamber of Commerce). In 1998 she was given the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, and in June 2004 she received the Saskatchewan Library Trustees Association Merit Award.
Lauren Black