John Butler
2010 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
Grand Marshal

The Morris County Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Trustees have announced the selection of John Butler as 2010 Parade Grand Marshal. John and his wife Joyce are long time residents of Morris County and live in Succasunna.

He comes from a long line of Irishmen. His late parents, Mary and Stanley, were both born in America. His paternal grandparents can be traced to Ireland. Grandfather Thomas came from County Tipperary. Grandmother Agnes was born in Canada and her parents were from Dublin and Belfast. His maternal great-grandparents, John and Gertrude McDevitt, were born in Ireland as well and came from Donegal.

John is an active member of the Morris County community; a trustee of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick (FSSP) of Morris County; a member of the Irish American Association of Northwest New Jersey (IAANJ); and for the past six years was President of Saint Patrick’s Day Parade of Morris County, Inc, the Non-Profit 501(c) (3) organization that runs the parade. He has been an active participant in nearly all aspects of the parade activities for over 15 years, including coordinating the Line of March, interacting with the media, working with Morristown Administration and Police Departments to assure safe fun-filled parade day activities, serving on the Parade and Finance Committees, and co-chairing the successful parade ad journal that funds the parade each year. He has also been a volunteer at the Annual Irish Feis sponsored by the IAANJ (formerly at Waterloo Village and currently at Sussex County Fairgrounds each September). In addition, he marches in West Orange St. Patrick’s Day Parade each year with FSSP.

When not helping promote Irish culture in Morris County and working on the Parade, John is an active member of Saint Therese Church, Succasunna, NJ, where he is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion and frequently visits Merry Heart Nursing Home residents so they can share in the Eucharist. He has served on various parish committees over the years; taught CCD and been a sponsor catechist for Confirmation; and regularly volunteers at St. Therese annual carnival. For the past 25 years, he has participated in the parish’s involvement with Trinity Lutheran Church, Dover, NJ, as a regular server at TLC’s Faith Kitchen that provides daily meals to those in need.
John is also an active member of the Knights of Columbus since he joined in 1969. He is a Past Grand Knight and the current Financial Secretary of Saint Therese Council Number 6320 in Succasunna. He was instrumental in establishing and leading the Council’s Scholarship Committee that awards annual scholarships to Council members’ children and grandchildren. In 1993 he developed, and continues to coordinate, the Council’s annual three-week Project WARMTH (We Are Really Meant To Help) program that serves those in need locally and within the Diocese of Paterson. He also initiated and led the council support of the council’s involvement and commitment to TLC’s Faith Kitchen. John has served on most of the Council activity committees (Church, Pro-Life, Community, Youth, and Council activity programs) over the years. Note too that he is a third generation Knight of Columbus, with his father, Stanley, and grandfather, Thomas, having been long time active members before him.

In 1995, John was honored as a recipient of the James Sprow Community Service Award in Roxbury. The award was the community’s recognition of his service to church and community. Service included some of activities described above as well as his youth activities as coach of his daughters’ sports teams, soccer, softball and basketball. He was an early member and past treasurer of the Roxbury Soccer Club.

John and Joyce married in 1967 and lived in Parsippany and Dover before moving to Succasunna 32 years ago. They are most proud of and close to their family. Their two daughters, Kelly and Teri, grew up in Roxbury, graduated from Roxbury High School and went on to graduate from Penn State University. John often comments on how his daughters and all his money went to Penn State. Obviously, the Butlers are big Penn State fans. Both girls have successful careers of their own and live in New Jersey. Kelly and her husband Al Musmanno have two sons, Jake and Zack, and live in Metuchen. Teri married Shawn Burke. They have one son, Colin, and live in Lake Hopatcong. As proud parents and grandparents, Joyce and John are thankful and feel lucky to have them all living close by.

John was born in Pennsylvania and is the oldest of five children. He and his three brothers and sister grew up in West Orange. His late brother, Richard, was an ace mechanic and owned a shop in West Orange. His sister, Jill, is a teacher and lives in Lansdale, PA. His brother Dennis is an HR Executive, living in Flanders, and his brother Brian is a distribution executive in Cincinnati
John graduated from West Orange High School and went on to Rutgers, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Management at nights while working full-time during the day. He started his career in pension administration at Prudential in Newark. After leaving Prudential, he worked with The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Merrill Lynch, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Mellon Financial and most recently with Affiliated Computer Services, a benefits outsourcing provider where he manages pension administration services for several clients. John plans to retire before the end of this year.

John is a proud American with great pride in his Irish heritage. “I have only been to Ireland once, and that is a condition I plan to correct in retirement. We went there a few years ago, kicked ourselves for not having gone sooner, and vowed to return.”

He was a bit shocked and pleasantly surprised about being selected as Grand Marshal. Upon accepting, all he could say was, “It is a great honor and very humbling to be selected as the 2010 Parade Grand Marshal. Thank you for honoring my family and me. Having known and worked with so many of the previous grand marshals, I find it hard to believe anyone puts me in the same class as them. I know I have big shoes to fill and can only promise to do my best. I thank everyone involved, but I am most thankful to all the volunteers who make the Morris County St. Patrick’s Day Parade the success that it is. It takes about 80 volunteers to put on the parade each year. They deserve the credit as they are the ones that make it look easy.”
The 32nd Annual Morris County St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held in Morristown on Saturday, March 13, 2010. IAANJ started the parade in Wharton in 1979 where it grew in size and popularity. In 1991, IAANJ and FSSP brought the parade to Morristown. It has become one of the premier Morris County events enjoyed by Morris County families each year.