Barbara Lu North Butcher was born December 24, 1951 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Willis North and Edith Lavon Nunley North.

She lived her entire life in the Salt Lake City area. She attended Granite High school and met her life long sweetheart, William Butcher, while working at Don Carlos' Arctic Circle in 1968.

They were married in 1970 and built a beautiful life together that included having two children, William and Lisa.

Mom was a very caring person and the most wonderful mother that anyone could ask for. She was also a best friend to the entire family.

She was always willing to help anyone who needed help and she always put everyone else's needs ahead of her own.

She worked very hard her entire life and worked many years for Smiths Food and Drug in their non foods warehouse. She later started her own business.

She loved being with family, traveling, hosting parties, dancing, singing, playing the guitar, swimming, home making and gardening. She built a beautiful pond at her home with the help of her husband and she won the clean and beautiful award in her neighborhood.

She wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. Aside from working in the yard, she did remodeling around the house, including refinishing cabinets, tiling floors, installing stones on both the inside and the exterior of her home.

She was also the checkers board game champion and no one in the family could beat her!! She would beat anyone who tried to play against her. She would often play checkers at cracker barrel after getting breakfast with her family and we never saw her lose a game.

Mom was also on the gymnastics team and swim team in jr high.

Mom had many animals over the years, including horses and she loved riding. She spent countless hours camping and horseback riding in the mountains surrounding Utah. She loved all of her animals like they were her own children! At the time of her passing, she had two horses, one dog, three cats, several peacocks, pigeons and many doves.

She also had a "grand dog" that she loved dearly. She would pick him up every day for walks and then to just to let him hang out with her and her dog. Mom rarely went anywhere without her dog or grand dog and always said that if her dogs couldn't come, she didn't want to go!!

For many years, she also cared for many feral cat colonies. She dedicated a great deal of time into getting the cats trapped so they could be put through the trap-neuter-release program and then she made sure they were all well fed afterward.

She loved taking trips to Wendover, Mesquite and Las Vegas and made many trips with friends and family.

She loved playing poker and enjoyed playing in tournaments and winning them!

She always supported her husband and children in everything they did. She spent lots of time at the auto races at Bonneveille and Rocky Mountain Raceway along with other tracks and at the bicycle races supporting her family while they participated in events.

She would drive her children long distances so they could participate in their events and she always supplied them with whatever they needed for participation by working extra at the events or other side hussles such as selling Christmas trees with family.

Mom enjoyed cooking meals for her family and made wonderful Thanksgiving dinners every year.

She loved life and was stripped short of her life due to non small cell lung cancer. She struggled with the effects of it but put up a great battle even though she just couldn't overcome its horrendous challenges. It caused her so many problems and yet she still did not want to stop fighting for a chance to continue living and being with her family.

Mom passed away peacefully on March 14th surrounded by her family.

She was preceded in death by her father, mother, brother David (Chris), sisters Velma and Linda, many in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins .

She is survived by her husband William, Son William Jr (Penny), Daughter Lisa (Cory), brothers Melvin (Teresa), Roland (Tammy), Sisters Susan and Marlene, Sister in-law Joan and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, March 27, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. A viewing will take place prior to the service from 12:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m., with an additional evening viewing on Thursday, March 26, 2026 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. All services will be held at Memorial Murray Mortuary, 5850 South 900 East, Murray, Utah 84121.

Luncheon to follow, see family for address.