Thomas Herbert Butler, 83, entered into eternity on Friday August 5, 2022. He was born and raised in Washington, D.C., on August 23, 1938 to the late Douglas and Victoria Pleasant Butler. He was raised by his grandmother who she fondly called him “DD”. Thomas was married to Virginia Thompson Butler who preceded him in death.

He attended public school in Washington, DC. Life was not easy for Thomas as a young black male growing up in the “40-50’s”. He ended up dropping out of school in the sixth grade. With a six grade education, it was difficult to obtain a decent paying job. So he worked various jobs such as a laborer, dishwasher, pot-washer, and hauling trash to earn a living to survive.

Thomas had many stories of survival experiences. He often shared of when he lived in an abandon buildings with his home boys. They would take turns keeping a watch-out for one another during the night. They would share a can of Pork and Beans and a bottle of something. They were family and they knew that family sticks together and lookout for each other. Clearly, he knew about survival.

On one of his various jobs, he sustained a serious injury which caused loss of income. In spite of his lack of book smarts, Thomas has plenty of street smarts and would not let anyone get over on him because he was a survivor and the strong survive.

He was famous for talking about eating plenty of his favorite foods, cornbread, cabbage, and black-eyed peas. He also enjoyed singing and he was very good at it. His home boys recognized his amazing talent and suggested he should be in Hollywood as a singer. Therefore he was nicknamed “Hollywood”.

Life took a turn for the better for Thomas when he met the Evangelist Virginia Thompson whom he eventually married in 2018. She reached out to help him to become established in the Fredericksburg area. They became inseparable life-long friends and died thirty days apart.
Thomas surrendered his life to Christ. He loved and attended several churches in Fredericksburg. He attended Grace Redemption, Shiloh Old Site, and Abiding Love Ministries. He attended and participated in many activities at various senior citizens outreach centers. As his health begin to fail he moved into Woodmont Center and continued utilizing his joyful gift of singing until the end. He is now in heaven singing the praises of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thomas was preceded in death by his wife Virginia Thompson Butler and a step-son Alfred T. Thompson. He survived by three loving step-children Lillian Lisa Thompson, Marsha M. Dorsey, and Harold D. Thompson. Seven step grand-daughters, 1 grandson, one great-grand daughter, 2 great-great-grand daughters, 1 great-great-grandson, A step son-in-law Evangelist Anthony L. Williams and A step-daughter-in-law, Shelly Bennett.