Corol H. "Butch" Moulton

Corol Henry "Butch" Moulton, 88, of Fleming, passed away peacefully at home on Thursday.

Butch was born in Watertown, the son of the late Vernon and Madelene (Austin) Moulton. He later moved with his mother to Union Springs, where he grew up and went to school. He started with very little, and he never forgot the neighbors who kept his family in milk from the farm next door. "Back then," he said, "people helped people." He was proud of making his own way.

He worked at GE and then for his uncle, George Payne, at George's Tents. He joined the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 545, and ran bulldozer on construction jobs for years. He was known as a "slope man", the one they sent for when a hillside had to be cut just right. He finished his union career at the Nine Mile Point nuclear plant.

When his uncle George passed, Butch bought the tent inventory and founded Moulton's Tent & Canvas Shop, where he made his own tents. He was a tough but fair boss and used the business to give a start to many people, including a lot of his own family.

Butch was handy and could build just about anything. When he wasn't in the tent shop, you could find him in his garden.

Growing up, Butch was especially close to his mother, his brother Jimmy, his uncle George, and his cousin Evelyn Payne, who was a sister to him in every way that mattered. He met Peggy at a school dance in Union Springs, where she was standing in the doorway of the gym. In marrying her he found a much larger family in the Bakers. They took him in as one of their own, and to them he was always "Hot Dog" or simply "Bro". He was quick with a joke and usually the one doing the teasing.

In his last days, Butch summed it up in his own words: "Life hasn't always loved me, but I always loved life."

Butch is survived by his wife of 67 years, Margaret "Peggy" Baker Moulton; his daughter, Susan, and her husband, Kerry Smith; his grandsons, Jared and Jacob Smith; his special cousin, Evelyn Payne, and her husband, Tom; and many nieces, nephews, and members of the Baker family.

In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother, James "Jimmy" Moulton, and his sisters, Thelma Saccavino and Gwendolyn White.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Mary's Church, where he was a member. Burial will follow in St. Joseph's Cemetery, where he will rest near the Baker family.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Butch's name to the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (alzdiscovery.org) or Cure Alzheimer's Fund (curealz.org).

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