Home Going Celebration for Mr. Dawson Butts, Sr. will take place Saturday, May 19, 2018 at 4:00 PM at the Chapel Of All Faiths, 252 Swint Avenue, Milledgeville, Georgia. The interment will follow at Bone Cemetery on MLK Drive in Milledgeville, Georgia. He will lie in repose at 3:00PM until the Celebration hour.
Dawson " Sonny " Butts, Sr., 89, was born on June 13, 1928 in Sandersville, Georgia to the parentage of the late Mr. Milas Butts, Sr. and the late Mrs. Roeanor Butts. He attended the public schools in the county of his birth until the 10th grade (which was customary at that time). Upon leaving school, he was gainfully employed as a chalk miner.
At the age of 22, he met and married the former Butha Larkin in 1950. Their 45 - year marriage was blessed with six children: four girls and two boys. He was preceded in death by one son, his wife and all his brothers and sisters.
The same year he married, he enlisted into the US Army where he served in the Korean War. He was Honorably Discharged after two years of service in 1952. After his military service, he enrolled in the Ballard Hudson Trade School in Macon, Georgia pursuing the course of study for auto mechanic & painter. He later moved to Milledgeville with his wife and baby girl, along with his mother and brother, Nathaniel. He worked in Macon in that capacity for a number of years.
In 1958, he opened his first filling station and auto body shop on Gwinnett Street. He later moved to 241 West Mitchell Street as Dawson Butts Garage. He remained self - employed as an auto mechanic for 60 years along with other jobs at various intervals before retiring.
Early in life, he answered the call to servanthood aligning himself with the membership at Oak Bethel Holiness Church where he served as a deacon. He later joined Miracle Healing Temple under the leadership of the late Mother Daisy Mitchell where he became a minister. He would go on to pastor Jeffersonville Holiness Church in Jeffersonville, Georgia. He was an avid volunteer with the late Elder Robert Ponder and others in his ministry leading bible study and church services in the local nursing homes of this area.
On Friday, May 11, 2018 in the confines of the Georgia War Veterans Home, our beloved Dawson Butts, Sr., transitioned from this life , to life eternal.
He leaves to cherish his enumerable memories: four daughters: Jacqueline Butts Forney, Shirley Butts (Apostle Larry) Hill, Genese Butts(Jimmy) Swint, all of Milledgeville, Vivian Butts (Alton) Edwards of Savannah; one son: David L.(Tracy) Butts of Milledgeville; 10 grandchildren, 5 great - grandchildren, (one on the way); two sisters -in- law: Prophetess Geraldine Larkin Stephens of Sandersville, and Katherine Larkin Ward of Milledgeville and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and devoted friend Roger Young, Jr., also survive him.