The officers and board of directors of the Woodbury Business Association have announced that Bill Butterly, a Woodbury First Selectman who died suddenly last December, has been named recipient of the 2019 James J. Clark, Jr., Community Service Award.
Initiated by the WBA in 2003, the Clark Award acknowledges a commitment to community service and volunteerism that James Clark personified over 40 years to the Woodbury community.
Clark Award candidates are nominated by both WBA and community members. Mr. Butterly prevailed in the voting from a list of nominees.
“There are a great deal of people contributing their time and energy to doing good,” said Deborah Tata, president of the WBA. “But few of us can ever hope to match the tireless effort which Bill Butterly made to helping people and improving the community.”
Mr. Butterly grew up in Watertown and was involved in business, civic and political pursuits there for many years. In 1986, he and his wife, Judy, moved to Woodbury where he started a home inspection business. He joined the Woodbury Fire Department and became the deputy fire marshal. In 2000, he gave up the home inspection business and became an independent mortgage broker, a role he held for several years.
In 2009, Mr.Butterly was elected to the Woodbury Board of Finance and in 2011 became its chairman. Unhappy with some aspects of the Woodbury political scene, in 2013 he primaried the endorsed incumbent Republican candidate for first selectman. He lost the primary, became a petitioning candidate and won the seat in the general election.
Mr. Butterly later became an unaffiliated voter and won two more elections to the first selectman position. He was in the last year of his current term when he died. Shortly before his death he declared he had finally found the job he was meant to have. He truly loved what he was doing and was a tireless advocate for the town and its people.
Mr. Butterly will be honored at the James J. Clark Community Service Award Dinner at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 19, at the Good News Restaurant and Bar, 694 Main St. South.
