Newcastle: a great place to begin and end!

I was privileged to receive a phone call this afternoon from Murray Dean Butler (who goes by “Dean”), a longtime friend I always enjoy talking to. I love Newcastle and like to see others from rural roots move here and discover how friendly it is — a town that won’t give you culture shock if you were raised on a ranch.

I’m proud to have known Dean for most of his life and happy that he has “come full circle” from being born in Newcastle to moving back and establishing a home here, almost three quarters of a century later. Dean and his wife, Linda, bought one of our town’s nice older homes (not more than a couple blocks from News Letter Journal headquarters), remodeled/restored it and built a garage behind it. They say they’re “permanent residents, until God calls them home.”

Murray Dean Butler was one of the first babies born in Newcastle’s “hospital on the hill” (now Mondell Heights) in 1950. At that time, his dad Murray Butler worked for the Zerbst family on their ranch. His expecting wife, Velma, had gone to her parents, Everett and Inez Statler, on their ranch southwest of Newcastle, to be nearer the hospital. Dean’s first memories are of country living, as he easily and happily adapted to being the third generation to enjoy that lifestyle in Wyoming.

Dean started school at Lance Creek when he was 6. That’s a ways west of a north-south line from Newcastle to Lusk. He graduated from the eighth grade in a class of three and went on to high school in Lusk.

“They let me finish my senior year three months early so I could help with calving,” he quipped.

  Dean went into the United States Marine Corps in December 1969. Upon returning home from that tour of military service, he went to Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington, but only for one semester. He worked at Torrington Livestock Exchange, one of the largest and most popular sale barns in the region, for three years. His years of ranch experience equipped him to make a good hand there.

“I married Linda Ladwig in September of 1972, one year and one day after being discharged from the Marines,” Dean told me. The couple lived on a ranch his dad was involved with, south of Manville. Dean worked in the oil field to supplement their ranch income. As time passed, the couple became proud parents of a daughter and a son while living there.

  By then, Dean felt the Lord’s call on his life, which moved him to Hillsdale Bible College in Oklahoma. He graduated from there with an associate’s degree in Christian education. Years later he went to Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Christian counseling when he was 40 years old.

  That formal equipping helped confirm the calling Dean felt. All sold-out Christians believe that the Lord provides for his workers and that he is the only one who can lead them and place them where he wants them to labor — the place where they’re needed. God provided work for Dean to support his family and continue his preparation for service to himself. “Running a ranch in the Texas panhandle with 1,500 head of cows to calve” was Dean’s provision!

  Ranchers will gulp when they read that! It’s a huge responsibility, even in the milder climate of that region. Dean enjoyed the return from study and learning to doing what he had always known and loved. He also had ample opportunity to fully trust God. True to the “nothing is perfect” adage, Dean remembers “that was the best job and the worst boss I ever had!”

  Returning to Wyoming in his 40s, Dean hired on an oil drilling rig as a “roughneck.” By God’s grace, new oil and gas fields were being discovered and explored in this region. Dean says, “I did whatever I had to do to feed my family.” He was learning new skills, growing closer to God and experiencing plenty of “ups and downs.” The couple sometimes found it trying, but God always saw them through. Dean is happy with the life he’s lived and the calling he feels.

“It’s important to me,” he said. “I took the Lord at his word 50 years ago, and he hasn’t failed me yet. Teaching the Bible is what I love, and I will teach anyone who wants to learn. I read the Gospel, and am able to explain it to others in simple terms. I  think 80% to 90% of believers have been fed wrong information concerning the Scriptures. Everyone needs to know, think and understand about Christ’s words. This year is the 50th anniversary of my salvation, so I’ve had time to prove that all He said is true.”

If you’d like to know more about this man, you can find him on Facebook, under Dean Butler. Or find his Facebook pages Hope in Christ and Newcastle WY & Weston Co Bible Believers.