Tributes Honor Life of Civic Leader and St. John the Baptist ‘Matriarch’ Mable Butler

Former Orange County Commissioner Mable Butler, 98, a renowned civic leader also known as the matriarch of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Orlando, died Sept. 6. She was the first Black woman elected to the Orlando City Council and the first Black American elected to the Orange County Commission. Her life’s work went far beyond politics, however; it was about love, service and lifting her community. She also devoted countless hours to service at her church.

“Ms. Mable loved St. John’s,” said the Rev. Charles T. Myers, rector of St. John the Baptist, who presided over her funeral and was featured in this news segment honoring Butler. “She would send cards to the parishioners on their birthdays, to get well or just to check on them in the name of the church, because she didn’t want anyone to know it was her. She spearheaded projects for our congregation and was the founder of Seniors and Soup, our noonday service that serves lunch afterward.

“Her faith guided her work in public service,” he continued. “She knew that it would take a power greater than her to sustain her.”

Born in Gainesville and raised in Jacksonville, Butler pursued a degree in social service at New York City College. She relocated to Orlando in 1957 and joined Mayor Carl Langford’s Biracial Committee. As chair of the Housing Committee, she investigated discriminatory practices in the apartment market, prompting the establishment of the Orlando Human Relations Department.

She served on Orlando’s City Council from 1984-1990 and on the Orange County Commission, representing District 6, from 1990-1998. She was instrumental in the growth and development of the Meals on Wheels program and the Christian Service Center, both of which assist families and individuals in need.

Butler’s funeral was held Sept. 20 at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando. Family, constituents, parishioners, former staff members, local officials and representatives of several news channels were in attendance.

Her eldest daughter, Dr. Marcia Flagler, said in her eulogy. “Mama modeled what it meant to be an instrument of God, making a positive difference, setting the example, first in the home and carrying it out to the lives of everyone she touched. She believed God blessed her to be a blessing and show love.”

“Mable understood that if you were serving the people out of love, you were serving God,” Myers said in his funeral sermon. “She would ask the Orlando commissioners, ‘Why aren’t you serving out of love? You’re supposed to love them.’”

Myers also spoke about what he called Butler’s “radical hospitality,” referring to celebrations she helped plan, including her own birthday parties. “What I loved about those parties [was that they were] a parable of the kingdom of God. … it’s her birthday party, it’s her celebration, and you would think that everybody would bring her gifts and serve the food to her, but no … Mable had that food orchestrated, and people would get … scarves and everything else – out of her abundance. See, Mable understood the goodness of God and the hospitality of the God of giving. She understood that the blessings that God gave her were not just for her, but they flowed through her. She understood that the kingdom of God was for everyone.”

Tributes for Butler have also poured in online from her fellow parishioners, friends and others whose lives she touched. Bryon McKeon wrote, “For the last few years, I have had the privilege of being her service adviser for her vehicle. She would always light up spirits of the employees at the dealership when she arrived with a hug, followed by freshly baked pistachio, German chocolate, or red velvet cake for me to share with everyone. She was more like a second mom than she was a customer.”

Mr. Charles Barnes wrote his last love note to her on Mitchell’s Funeral Home’s condolences page: “Thou shalt love thy Neighbor as thyself. This is the theme of your glorious life. In 1969, the first time I heard your high-pitched voice, you were moving your son Ricardo into his first dormitory room at Bethune-Cookman. You introduced yourself and told me to call you Mom. He and I became friends, teammates, and roommates. As the Wildcat Quarterback, I delivered his first touchdown pass, and you cheered!”

Fellow parishioner Mr. Patrick Lindsay remembered her kindness in his Facebook post: “I will miss Mable Butler, very, very much. We used to sit in the back seat at church together on occasion when I did go. She was like a mother to me. She would always give me candy.”

In another Facebook post, Ms. Francine Kelly recalled Butler’s mentoring: “Mable Butler sat in the pew near my Mother at SJTBE church. Mable was such an inspiring, happy mentor to me in my ten years at L. Claudia Allen Senior Center.”

“She encouraged me to go into ministry,” Pastor Rico Brown of Virginia Avenue Church of Christ, Chester, West Virginia, said at her funeral. “She enjoyed having someone around her who was religious. We prayed together once a week. She was a godly woman who knew what it meant to serve.”