| Butch
was born in Bozeman, MT, on July 16, 1946. He first came to
live in West Yellowstone in 1977, and left in ’79 and
moved to Wyoming, where he met the love of his life, Sylvia.
She was working at the Quick-Mart in Thermopolis and Butch
was running three businesses. He was in the store one day
when Sylvia came in to pick up her paycheck. The two of them
began talking and agreed to have dinner before they even exchanged
names. It was Love at first sight. Butch and Sylvia dated
for one and a half months before they married.
Butch and Sylvia Nottingham moved to West Yellowstone together
in 1984. They bought their house on Horse Butte in 1994. They
were especially moved by the presence of buffalo in their
neighborhood, especially in the days when Montana had a bit
more tolerance for buffalo. Butch remembers the days when
everything changed, and the buffalo so cherished by he and
Sylvia could be seen by the entire community stacked dead
along the sides of Rainbow Point Road in 1997, the year nearly
1,100 buffalo were senselessly slaughtered.
Even in her passing Sylvia honored the buffalo and asked people
to support BFC in her memory. Her kind spirit will always
be an inspiration to those who were lucky enough to know her.
Butch, our friend and family member, has continued to be there
for the buffalo. Through all of his mourning and sorrow he
always came to the aid of the buffalo whenever they needed
it. Thank you Butch for sharing your family with us and know
that you always have another family in the BFC.
Sylvia passed away on May 6, 2002.
She is fondly remembered by Butch, their dog Samantha, BFC
volunteers, and everyone who had the good fortune to encounter
her warm smile.
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