Elsie Corrine Arnold Butgereit

Elsie Corrine Arnold Butgereit, a lifelong resident of Fairhope, Alabama, danced her way into heaven on September 6, 2025, passing peacefully in her home surrounded by family and a whole radiance of cardinals (if you know, you know!). We’re confident that when she reached the Pearly Gates, the Lord smiled, handed her a fresh pair of dancing shoes, and cleared the floor for the best jitterbug Heaven has seen in a while.

The seventh of eight children born to Jack and Mordecai Roberts Arnold, Elsie follows the path of her parents and a rowdy bouquet of older siblings—Claude, Mawk, Pat, Sue (McKean), Grace (King), and Mary Emma (Kreek)—all of whom surely greeted her with open arms, a pot of coffee, and a slight reprimand for taking her sweet time. To our care, she leaves her cherished younger sister, Jody Cotten, the last original blossom in the Arnold garden, as well as her beloved sisters-in-law Barbara Hill and Kiki Butgereit.

She was preceded in death by her husband of over sixty years Roy Butgereit, Sr., who has hopefully finally learned to dance while waiting for Elsie to stop “running the roads” and reunite with him and grandchildren Joseph Edwin Butgereit, Peyton Ainsley Johnson, and Aria Ann Moss, who, no doubt, did their own dance of joy when Memaw embraced them.

Left to carry on her example of laughter and generosity are her children Robi Jones (Richard), Roy II (Linda), Ray (Frankie), Rhonda Johnson (Gary), Rita Treutel (Bill), and Richard (Kristy), seventeen grandchildren, nineteen great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild — each of whom will claim they were her favorite – and many, many nieces and nephews whom she loved as her own..

Elsie answered to many names: Memaw, Aunt Elsie, Mrs. Buckright, and Mama and wielded a flip-flop as a tool of discipline as few women in history have. She gave with reckless abandon—once literally giving away her own stove (Yes, her stove. Who does that? Elsie). She didn’t just meet people—she adopted them, forming lifelong bonds even across continents, especially with Benjamin Smith Osei Antwi, his wife Dorothy, their children, Roy and Robi, and his sister, Elsie Butgereit Osei and her daughter, Felicia, in Ghana, West Africa.

Her roots ran deep in Fairhope soil, watered by the waves of Mobile Bay and nourished by the ideals of the Organic School and the Christian Science Church. Her faith wasn’t just something she believed—it was something she lived. She served God with purpose and joy, whether as a choir member or church hostess at Fairhope United Methodist Church, in mission work abroad, or in her daily ministry of feeding, guiding, and loving every soul who crossed her path.

She embodied humility, gratitude, and silliness in equal measure — there isn't a single person who knew her who doesn’t have a “Silly Elsie” story — and made the world brighter, funnier, warmer, and more compassionate.

She will be missed with tears and remembered with laughter. In her honor, consider an act of outrageous generosity to someone outside your normal circle. In doing so, we can follow Elsie’s example of drawing people together and widening our circles until we intersect and overlap in love and hope, so that the Kingdom of God might exist on earth as in Heaven.

Amen and Alleluia

In lieu of flowers, donations for the Roy and Elsie Butgeriet Costa Rica Mission Team Scholarship or Ministerio Amor en la Calle can be made to the Fairhope United Methodist Church.