Joan Evelyn Butcher

Joan passed peacefully on 02-04-23 at the age of 91 in the presence of family, bringing a long difficult time with dementia to an end. She lived a long and full life, dedicating herself selflessly to family and friends. She was born March 9, 1931, to Lillian and Frederick Peterson, and grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut. At the age of 19, after completing her Freshman year at the University of Connecticut, she married her first husband, Raymond Brunell JR. and they settled in the Gilead section of Hebron, Connecticut where she played piano for the Gilead Congregational church, and taught sewing at the Gilead Grange. After having 3 children they purchased land from the Foote family, where she designed, and they built their dream home in Gilead. While raising her family, she went back to college and earned a degree in education and started her teaching career. She taught Mathematics at Bacon Academy in Colchester and RHAM in Hebron, then as a professor of Math at Tunxis Community College, earning a Masters in computer science at RPI along the way. She retired at age 55 as a professor emeritus from the state of Connecticut Department of Education. After becoming a widow at the age of 42, Joan met and fell in love with George Butcher and married again, enjoying a busy and loving marriage of 28 years. George and Joan enjoyed traveling out west to visit family, Caribbean cruises, and a couple of adventures to Europe. They retired to Salem, South Carolina where they enjoyed golf and gardening in their beautiful retirement homes. She made sure she remembered all the childrens and grandchildrens birthdays, and handmade Christmas stockings for each one. Always an avid gardener, Joan added a beautiful perennial landscape to each of her 3 homes the one she designed and built in Hebron and 2 retirement homes in South Carolina. She became chairperson of the landscape committee in her retirement community in South Carolina. She began watercolors as a hobby after retirement and became a very accomplished and prolific watercolor artist and longtime member of the Keowee Key Painting club earning many accolades and participating in many juried exhibitions. Many prized portraits of family members now grace our homes, and each year she would hand make her own holiday cards from her paintings. Her love of music began when she sang chorus in high school and learned piano. She played piano her entire life, and when George passed away, purchased a secondhand baby grand piano, and perfected her talent with more lessons. She continued to play until a few years before her death. Her loving, kind, and generous spirit, intelligence, creativity, sense of beauty, sense of humor, and selfless dedication to family will be sorely missed, and will continue to be an inspiration for all who knew her. She knew how to love, in the best sense of the word, jumping in without hesitation, and her purpose in life was to make sure that love was expressed in her actions, her support of family, and her life choices every step of the way. She is survived by daughter Bonnie Brunell of Connecticut and stepchildren Tina Buckingham of Montana, Greg Butcher and wife Linda of Virginia, and TJ Butcher and wife Sharon of Connecticut and sister Linda Lipnik and family of Tennessee. Joan is also survived by grandchildren Patrick Brunell, Jessi Calvo, Knikka Wetzel, Rosie Everhoney, Daniel Butcher, Casey Butcher, Sam Butcher, Luke Buckingham, Levi Buckingham, and many great grandchildren. They are Dylan Calvo, Matthew Sehl, Ryleigh and Kayden Wetzel, Lea Simone, Ava Rain and Harrison Halevy-Butcher, and Oliver and Evelyn Buckingham. Joan is predeceased by first husband Raymond W. Brunell Jr, their children Raymond W. Brunell III and Sherryl Eve Brunell, brother Gerald Peterson of New York, and her second husband George E. Butcher. Many thanks to the staff at Manchester Manor who tended to her lovingly throughout the last year and half, providing much needed support to her and her family. We will be forever grateful. Service Details to be posted upon finalization.