Chapter 174

3/14/2008

Olmsted Clan State Assemblyman

another Butler did It  

I was forced to rush this chapter out by the turn of events in State government and my family's inquiries. My great uncle Guy Goldthorpe Butler (Grandma's bro) served as an Iowa State Assemblyman for several terms. I met him on a Road Trip to Iowa in 1956 (video). You may want to view that short clip as I at least added some rock & roll to spice it up. The rest may be boring. Middle couple apparently Gma's old highschool classmate Guinevera and husband Leon Watson.

I copied this bio from the Iowa Register. Guy's other brother, Leigh "Bud"s story I covered in  Ch 143 the earthquake in Japan. Guy held the seventh license ever issued to practice dentistry in the Imperial Japanese Empire.  Dentist by Royal appointment to the Royal household to King Rama VI of Siam. He was a sportsman and had numerous credentials. He was a big game hunter, as I handled his hunting rifles ( & elephant rifle?) and we ate Antelope or Elk from one of his hunts in Montana. Many stuffed heads on the wall and animal furs lying around. Believe he hunted in Africa too. 

The Northwestern University football program was dissolved 1906-07 due to the brutality and danger issue (18 killed) but came back on campus in 1908 in a rebuilding state. I believe Guy may have played on the team somewhere in his 1909-1913 years there judging from this photo that Grandma had. He was very athletic. He could be pictured far left first row in picture labled 1912 although the web page calls it 1918. The mustache, his size and the horizontal stripes look like the Northwestern uniforms of purple and black. More Northwestern history.

I have a silver trophy Hampshire Cup 1918 that I believe he won in England when he was competing for the RBSC Royal Bankok Sports Club or http://www.rbsc.org rugby team  score: The Rest 2 Tries, England & Denmark 1 Try.

He led a very adventurous life and although he was also associated with the Emperor of Japan, he was not associated with the current Emperor's Club in the news.

His Russian wife Suma put a collection of his papers in the University of Iowa library that is now on-line.

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