LITTLE ROCK — When it came to his law career, Jim A. Buttry’s friends often compared him to literary lawyer Atticus Finch, from the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, said his son, Averitt Buttry.
“That’s sort of that character of the southern lawyer who’s reserved and has a sense of humor,” Averitt Buttry said. “He was just incredibly honest and polite and genteel.”
Buttry of Little Rock died Monday at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock from lung cancer.
He was 72.
Buttry first practiced law for the U.S. Army, for three years representing municipalities at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C .,said his wife of 50 years, Virginia Ann Hays Buttry.
He graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville in 1963 and then Georgetown University three years later before going to work as a lawyer in Newport.
“He was just passionate about law,” said his son, Hays Buttry. “[He] felt that it was a calling from God.”
In 1967, Buttry joined what is today Friday, Eldredge & Clark law firm in Little Rock.
“Bond attorneys, lawyers really prepare all the documentation when cities, counties and other public bodies issue bonds to finance capital projects ... and provide a legal opinion,” said Tom Leggett, a fellow bond lawyer who joined the firm in the 1970s. “Jim was just an excellent attorney. ... I always felt like he tried todo the right thing.”
Buttry worked with various clients throughout the state, including the city of North Little Rock and Arkansas State University. As a bond lawyer, Buttry was part of the process that allowed entities like hospitals, universities, nonprofits and municipalities to provide new buildings, programs or initiatives, Leggett said.
“When he participated as bond counsel, for example, at Baptist Hospital, he felt he was participating in providing those services to people,” Leggett said. “His legacy would be he helped provide those types of projects that serve the people of Arkansas.”
In addition to working in a specialized area of law, Buttry’s interests were unique, ranging from his prized collection of fountainpens to his off-thecuff recitations of Shakespeare, Leggett said.
“All his friends would tell you he was unique, one of a kind,” Leggett said.
Whether it was playing tennis, horseback riding or visiting as many Civil War battlefields as possible, Buttry included his family in his hobbies.
“We would take family trips to go flyfishing, we’d all sail as a family when we were younger,” Averitt Buttry said. “He was just a true renaissance man and had an incredible intelligence.”
Buttry eagerly shared his knowledge of British history with co-workers. Leggett said the firm’s running joke was about Buttry’s insight on the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, fought by the British Royal Navy.
“We would always kid him if anything came up, [we’d say], ‘Well what about the Battle of Trafalgar?’” Leggett said. “He’d smile and laugh, he could laugh at himself.”
A deacon and elder at Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, Buttry best described his lifework and faith in a statement he wrote about himself for his obituary: “He enjoyed the practice of law and regarded it as a high calling, a calling created by humankind but inspired by God.”
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 01/10/2013