ALBERT "BUTCH" H. DESMET

In Memory of Albert "Butch" H. DeSmet April 25, 1934 - February 25, 2017 Obituary Albert "Butch" H. DeSmet passed away on February 25th, 2017, in Vancouver, Washington. He was born on April 25th, 1934, in Valier, Montana, to his parents: Leon and Martha DeSmet. He attended High School in Valier. In 1963, Butch moved from Montana to California. He spent five years in California, and then he moved to Gresham, Oregon in 1968. On May 1st, 1980, Butch married Sharon Brown. They were happily married for nearly 37 years, until his passing.  Butch held a variety of management positions over the course of his career, with the most recent being a Parts Manager at Data Devices.  While living in Boring, Butch attended St. Michael's Parish. He enjoyed photography, woodworking, war movies, and airplanes (the old Waco planes were his favorite). He will always be remembered as a happy, gentle, and humble man who loved his family. He had a beautiful smile that could light up a room. Butch was preceded in passing by his sister, Roberta "Ber" Widhalm of Valier, Montana; and his daughter, Charmaine DeSmet of Gresham. He is survived by his loving wife, Sharon DeSmet of Vancouver; his daughter, Michelle Kauffman of Vancouver; his sons, Lane DeSmet of Troutdale, and Rory DeSmet of Oregon City; his stepchildren, Cathy DesRochers of Portland, Steve Brown of Gresham, Ken Brown of Las Vegas, Jim Brown of Gresham, and Kevin Brown of Port Angeles, Washington; his siblings, Gabe DeSmet of Powers, Montana, Betty Meuli of Conrad, Montana, and Toni Dowgiewicz of Rockville, Connecticut; as well as 11 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren. He will be missed. A Gathering of Remembrance for this gentle and great man will be held on Sunday, March 5th, 2017, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm in the Timberline Room at Bateman Carroll Funeral Home in Gresham. Memorial Contributions can be made to St. Michaels Church in Sandy, Oregon.

The end of the year, whether one calls it Solstice or Christmas, is often when news comes of earlier deaths.  To fill out this obit a little more, Butch was married to Bob Scriver's daughter, Margaret, and they had four children: Charmaine, Michelle, Lane and Rory.  They were young and the marriage was a temperament mismatch.  At that time, the Sixties, Butch was running the now derelict Texaco station.  Thing blew up and when the Big Flood hit, he had left.  All the roads north were impassable because of washed out bridges and telephone lines were down.  Margaret took the kids to her mother's in Anacortes, WA.

She and Butch divorced and in a year or so Margaret married Ken Paul, part of the Blackfeet community in the Anacortes area.  Too soon, Margaret developed cancer and died.  The four kids went to their father in California.  They remember that period wryly as the time of frozen chicken pot pies.  Butch married a woman named Lois, who also had children, and they furnished the dining room with a picnic table.  That marriage also crashed.  The third marriage to Sharon, a sweet and competent woman, was the one that he should have had all along.

Charmaine, the oldest girl, was killed in a car crash in Florida.  Michelle and her husband run a data business in Vancouver, WA.  Lane does contracting from his home in Troutdale and Rory drives truck for a beverage company.  They remained close to Butch, who was a source of stability and wisdom.

One watches the generations unfold with tragedies and a few great blazing achievements and, if lucky, many days of just getting the work done.  Butch did very fine filigree wood crafting.  Oregon suited him and he and Sharon found quiet places to live in the countryside around Portland.  He kept his high school hairdo all this life.  It went with his smile.