KAY WALKER BUTTERFIELD (Photo courtesy of St. Anne's-Belfield School)
Kay Walker Butterfield, a lifelong educator who was the wife of Foxfield Races Director W. Patrick Butterfield, died Tuesday, Sept. 26, in Charlottesville, Va.
A graduate of Wellesley College with a bachelor’s degree in history, she immediately began her career at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, where she taught for two decades beginning in 1962. Among the courses she taught were history and comparative religion.
The school noted that the only interruptions in her teaching were when the Butterfields’ sons would have been in her classes.
She also served as a resident faculty member and as an adviser to a variety of school clubs and activities.
In 2006 she moved from unofficial to official guardian of the school’s artifacts and history as its historian. She wrote the school’s centennial history, Teach Them Diligently.
A horsewoman, she hunted and was the field secretary of the Farmington Hunt Cup, of which her husband was a master of foxhounds.
In addition to her husband of 48 years, she is survived by sons Michael Walker Butterfield, and wife Sandra and Alexander Braxton Butterfield and wife Elizabeth; and three grandchildren, Katie, Sophia, and Braxton.
Kay was a member of St. Paul’s Ivy Church, Farmington Hunt Club, Keswick Hunt Club, and Farmington Country Club.
A private celebration of her life will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA.