Dawna Lee (Borax) Butler

PEABODY – Mrs. Dawna Lee (Borax) Butler of Peabody died Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023 at Beverly Hospital surrounded by her loving family. She died of complications due to Parkinson’s and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She is survived by her husband of 33 years, Thomas Pierce Butler IV and her three children: Alexandra Patricia, Victoria Lee, and Thomas Pierce Butler V.

Dawna was born in Winnipeg, Canada on November 27th, 1965 to John and Patricia (Byrd) Borax. In 2001, Dawna became a United States citizen. Although, at heart, Dawna would want everyone to know she was a native of Calgary, Canada.

She graduated from Ambassador College and later went on to graduate from Brandeis University with her master’s degree in Health Policy. She worked at Brandeis as a researcher for several years. While she was a go-getter at work and loved the professional world, she dedicated ten years of her life to being a fulltime mother to her three children. Dawna never missed an opportunity to be involved in her children’s activities. She served as a Daisy, Brownie, and Girl Scout Troop leader, as well as co-president of various playgroups and PTO’s. Once her children went to school, Dawna went on to join the team at Converse for many years in Testing and Product Development, where she worked closely with the Boys and Girls Club of Charlestown testing sneaker designs. She was very popular with kids as she was always handing out free pairs of Converse for testing. If you cut her open, she would bleed Converse / Nike. Unfortunately, as Dawna’s career was ascending, she was unable to continue to work due to illness. She loved working there. 

Dawna loved life and was so full of life. She was an avid traveler and visited destinations around the world including China, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Germany, her native Canada, Las Vegas, and Denver many times to visit her daughter Vici. She continued to travel even when her health was poor. Dawna loved going to and hosting family parties. She also enjoyed going out for “drinks and apps”, her favorite of which was the Midnight Sangria at the Yard House.

Dawna is also survived by her parents and four siblings: Sandi (George) Hague, David (Laura), Matthew Borax, Jennifer (Darryl) Kusek, and in-laws Daniel (Kim), Martin (Suzzane) Butler, Dianne ( T.J.) Brennan, and Allison (Jay) Larrow, and many, many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by many cats, but survived by Bill Squeakers of twenty years.

Our family would like to thank the wonderful doctors and nurses at Beverly Hospital and the folks at Care Dimensions for their care and compassion during this difficult period.

ARRANGEMENTS: Her funeral services will be private. Assisting the family with arrangements is O’Donnell Cremations – Funerals – Celebrations, 167 Maple St., (rte 62) DANVERS. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Dawna’s name to the Boys and Girls Club of Charlestown, 15 Green St., Charlestown, MA 02129. To share a memory or offer a condolence, please visit www.odonnellfuneralservice.com

Her PRIVATE funeral service will be Livestreamed - Please click the link to join the family remotely on Tuesday, May 30th at 11 A.M.

https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/8225030019

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