George Daniel Butler collection

George Daniel Butler was born in Seymour, Connecticut, on November 14, 1893. He graduated from Yale with the Class of 1916. After graduation, Butler joined the war effort by assisting the U.S. Army Ambulance Service with the French army, for which he received a Croix de Guerre. Butler spent most of the rest of his working life with the National Recreation Association, where he was Director of Research, Assistant Executive Director and Associate Editor of "Recreation."

For several years he was a member and chairman of the Board of Adjustment, Playground Committee and Recreation Commission (1947-62) in Leonia, N.J.; also president, Home School Association and other agencies. He received a Special Citation from the American Recreation Society and Honorary Life Memberships in the Recreation and Park Associations of New York and New Jersey. In November, 1966, the renowned Bob Kiphuth, (now deceased) who was then Honorary President of the Council for National Co-operation in Aquatics, awarded But a Certificate of Recognition "for outstanding service and contribution in the field of aquatics", at Purdue University.

George wrote many pamphlets, booklets and magazine articles and several books, among them, "Introduction to Community Recreation", "Playgrounds-their Administration and Operation", "Recreation Areas-their Design and Equipment", "Municipal Recreation Administration", "Pioneers in Public Recreation", "Country Parks", "Recreation Activities for Adults". For some time he was editor of the "Recreation and Park Yearbook". A lecturer, he has participated in workshops at several universities, chaired many national committees on recreation subjects and has taken part in local recreation surveys. He was Recreation Consultant in the planning of the town of Kitimat in British Columbia.

He was a member of the Leonia Presbyterian Church where he taught Sunday School and was a member and treasurer of the Session. He belongs to the Church of the Palms and the Yale and Ivy League Clubs in Sarasota. He retired in December 1962. In retirement his hobbies were flower gardening, photography, vacationing in Friendship, Maine, swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and "hiking on the most beautiful beaches in the U.S.A."

On September 6, 1921, he married Rebecca Preble Jones, with whom he had two children. He died in May 1985.