The Villages arts community will remember Sunny Butler in a special memorial service at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4 in the Rohan Recreation Center.
Butler earned acclaim throughout The Villages for her courageous battle against cancer, and also her tenacious will to perform on local stages during the final months of her life. She died on May 15, but not before taking the stage and dancing in two, major local productions at the Savannah Center.
Butler — whose actual name was Lloyde Lumpkin Ballou Butler — lived in The Villages for nearly a decade. She was a major part of the 2015 “Christmas Spectacular” last December. Despite weakness and sickness from experimental treatments and chemo, Butler was a major part of the production and kicked up her heels in a Rockettes-like chorus line in the show.
“Every time Sunny stepped on stage, it was just magic,” said her close friend Debra Heath-Strickland, who produced the Christmas show. “She is full of energy and she always smiles. When we see her smiling and happy; we’re happy. She’s an inspiration.”
Then, remarkably, two months later in February, Butler was back on stage, dancing up a storm in the Music In Motion production called “Magique.”
Sunny Butler was frail, sick and in pain, but her smile glowed on stage. The Villages-News.com covered both shows and chronicled Butler’s story. She described her spirit this way to the Villages.news.com: “I don’t know how many days I have left, but I’m not going to waste any of them.”
Now, local singers, dancers and performers will put on a show for Sunny. Butler detailed her wishes for a memorial to her close friend, Heath-Strickland. “She wanted a celebration of her life and that’s what it will be,” Heath-Stirckland said. In addition to tributes and inspirational messages, there will be Mardi Gras beads, champagne toasts, and a release of doves.
“Sunny wanted it to be special and it’s going to be special,” Heath-Strickland said.
Sunny’s children, Louis L. Kitchin, Frances Cary Ballou and Elizabeth Ballou Weitzman are expected to attend, as is Sunny’s partner Robert L. Christy of The Villages. Local performers and friends are also invited.