A beekeeper, avid fisherman, and one of the most cheerful and optimistic people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, the much loved Pastor Ashley Butler is leaving LaBelle. The Pastor and I met a few years ago, at a livestock auction in Arcadia. I was heavily pregnant, and on the hunt for dairy goats. He was there, selling off some of his racing pigeons. With a huge grin, he introduced himself simply as Ashley, and asked where I was from, when I told him I had just bought a home in LaBelle, he lit up. Serendipitously, we discovered we lived just a few miles apart. 

One of the things I admire most about Ashley Butler, was how patient and unassuming he is, and how he sees love as an unlimited resource. to be shared unconditionally. In fact, it was quite sometime before I found out he was a Pastor. Months after we had met, we were sitting around a fire pit when I mentioned that my Thai mother attended a Buddhist temple in North Fort Myers, and that I didn’t necessarily attend church at all. Ashley then casually invited me to his church, saying, “What you see us what you get!” Later, I found out this was his way of telling me he was no different in his church than he was at home or any given day. 

Over the years our families have butchered hogs, collected honey bees, gathered around the fire pit, and have shared many trials and triumphs with each other. Of course, the Butler’s have done the same with the rest of the community. The Pastor and his wife, Tammy, have always been there, giving money to those who had fallen behind on utilities or rent, food to families with hungry children, even rides to and from church or doctor’s appointments. Even offering up the church as a place for those seeking shelter, during Hurricane Irma. Opening up their home afterwards, to those who needed a place to stay. When times were tough, and the church needed help, the Butlers took up beekeeping, and bee removal to supplement their income while keeping the church going. 

On his last day at Eastside Baptist, Pastor Butler gave one of his powerful and moving sermons, as he has done hundreds of times before, but this time was different. Somberly, members of his congregation took turns, as they rose up from the pews and told their stories. From supporting marriages to battling health issues, to those who were feeling lost and alone, so much love and appreciation was expressed to the Pastor and his wife, for all they have done. Tears flowing, some members said they were heartbroken over the loss of the Pastor, but that they wished him the best as he battles lung disease and has been given 3-5 years to live. Knowing him, and how tough this guy is, he will be around a lot longer. True to his character, Pastor Butler ended the sermon by saying, “Preachers never retire, they just go home when it’s time.”