Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 13, 2017, at First Baptist Church in Marshalltown, Iowa. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until service time at the church. Memorials may be directed to the First Baptist Church in Marshalltown.

Marjorie Mae Havens was born in rural Todd County, South Dakota on November 26, 1924, to Alfred and Susie (Ekleberry) Havens. The middle of seven daughters, Marjorie attended a one room schoolhouse a mile from home. She graduated from Montour High School in 1942, after the family moved to Iowa. She completed the teaching program at Iowa Teachers College in Cedar Falls, and taught in several rural schools.

Margie was united in marriage to Tom Yandell in 1951. He was killed in 1952 in a construction accident in Kansas City, MO. She took commercial artist classes and then worked at Marshall Print where she met Russell “Dean” Butters. Margie and Dean were married on April 28, 1956 at the University of Iowa Chapel. Their union was blessed with two daughters, Susan, and Andrea, who passed away in 1975 from Cystic Fibrosis. Margie and Dean were married for 60 years, when Dean passed away on December 25, 2016.

Margie was a skillful artist with an eye for portraits, and often expressed her thoughts with poetry. Her love for singing took root washing dishes with her sisters. The “Haven Girls” sang weekly on the local radio station. Her singing continued at her church for decades. She was very committed to her church and family, and also nurtured many young ladies. Many people throughout the state treasured her “Chalk Talk” presentations. When Margie was 72, she wrote the autobiography of her life and faith. Over the years, she was the energetic social chairman for the Havens reunions. She had an engaging personality that drew people close. She was an active, involved and vibrant woman with a passion for shoes her entire life.

Left to cherish her memory are her daughter, Susan (Rick) Schill; grandchildren: Zack Schill, of Boise, Idaho, Gwyneth (Bob) Heston, of Madrid, Iowa, and Lindsey (Dominic) Catrambone, of Burbank, California; great-grandchildren: Grace, Sophia and Claire Heston, and Dominic Catrambone IV; and sisters, Gloria Chappelear, of Happy Camp, California and Patty (Dale) Wiese, of Marshalltown, Iowa.

Marjorie was preceded in death her parents; husbands; daughter, Andrea Lynn; and sisters, Fern Halsted, June Shank, Betty Cooper and Claribel Byers.