ROBERT WESTBROOK BUTNER, M.D.

1942-2021

Robert Westbrook Butner, M.D. died on Thanksgiving night, the 25th of November 2021, with his wife of 55 years, Carol Steib Butner, by his side.

Robert Butner was born on the 5th July 1942 in Station Hospital, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, to Major Wendell B. Butner, a US Army Medical Officer, and Helen Taylor Butner, a Home Economics professor

After WWII, the Butners moved to San Angelo, Texas, the place Bob always called “home.” He attended San Angelo Public Schools and served as Drum Major of the Robert E. Lee Junior High School Rebel Band and Drum Major of the San Angelo Central High School Bobcat Band. He was a member of Boy Scout Troop 1 and earned the Eagle Scout, God and Country and Explorer Silver Awards. In 1960, Bob graduated from San Angelo Central High School as Salutatorian of his class.

After high school, Bob attended Rice University, where he discovered fencing and was a member of the Rice fencing team. In 1964, he was selected for Phi Beta Kappa and received a Bachelor of Arts degree Cum Laude.

Bob attended medical school at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore; he received his MD degree in 1968, after which he completed a Surgical Internship at Charity Hospital of New Orleans.

From 1969 -72, Dr. Butner was active-duty military in the U.S. Army. His first assignment was as Group Medical Officer in the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. From 1970-72, he served as Group Surgeon as Major and Senior Parachutist in the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) / Special Action Force Asia at Camp Sansone, Okinawa.

After completing 3 years of active duty in the Army, Dr. Butner began his specialized medical education and training in ophthalmology in Houston. In 1972-75, he completed a Residency in Ophthalmology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and in 1976, he completed a Fellowship in Retinal Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Butner began his private practice of Vitreoretinal Surgery in Houston in 1977, serving on the voluntary teaching faculty at the Baylor College of Medicine. He began his current position on the full-time teaching faculty with the University of Texas Department of Ophthalmology in 2002.

Dr. Butner joined the 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) of the Alabama Army National Guard in 1983, and received the Meritorious Service Medal. In 1991, he was mobilized and reported for active duty at Ft. Bragg NC, during the First Gulf War. He served as Colonel, Group Surgeon and Master Parachutist, until he retired from the Army in 2000.

After September 11, 2001, Dr. Butner joined the Texas State Guard. He served in the State Guard until 2017 as a Colonel and Regimental Surgeon, and he received the Texas Outstanding Service Medal.

Bob spent more than 3 decades serving in the U.S. Army. He was a Green Beret and retired as a Colonel.

Military parachuting was one of his keenest passions. He attended Jump School at Fort Benning GA in 1969 and remained on active jumpstatus through 2011. He completed foreign jumps in Taiwan, Italy, Tunisia, Nepal, Argentina, Russia and Israel, and he was awarded jump wings by those countries. He was a Master Parachutist, and completed 138 parachute jumps during his career. His last jump was in Belarus in August 2011.

During his years in private and university medical practice, Dr. Butner served as medical practitioner and teacher in the Balkans and in Iraq. His special areas of interest were Bulgaria (Sofia), Albania (Tirana), Iraq (Baghdad and Erbil), and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where, in 1993, he served during the Siege of Sarajevo, replacing an ophthalmologist who had been killed by a sniper outside an operating room. Another physician, shot while in front of the emergency room, was a paraplegic. When Dr. Butner reported to State Hospital in Sarajevo, he learned that 9 of the hospital’s 12 floors had had their walls blown out and medical equipment turned to rubble. Instead of discouraging him, this mission galvanized Dr. Butner, and he spent the rest of his life using his personal time and financial resources responding to humanitarian crises in Eastern Europe and other countries in need.

In 2001, at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Dr. Butner received the Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award. The award signified his “perseverance and commitment to teaching diagnostic and surgical techniques and to improving patient care through his teaching and care in war-torn Eastern Europe, often in hospitals under direct fire.” Bob made many friends in Eastern Europe and had many memorable experiences.

Dr. Butner’s certifications include Diplomate, National Board of Medical Examiners; Diplomate, American Board of Ophthalmology; Fellow, American College of Surgeons; and Fellow, International College of Surgeons. In 2011, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine awarded Dr. Butner the Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award.

In 2014, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science presented Dr. Butner with the Outstanding Teacher Award for his commitment to teaching and training ophthalmology residents. He spent countless hours patiently working with residents at LBJ Hospital, teaching many how to perform their first procedures. In particular, Dr. Butner encouraged new ophthalmologists to develop examination skills by hand-drawing the details of the retina using colored pencils. This time-consuming technique has been somewhat displaced by the advent of digital photography, but many classically-trained ophthalmologists, including Dr. Butner, consider it the gold standard of a retinal examination. At the end of the residents’ first year of training, Dr. Butner presented an original award to the first-year resident who consistently produced the best retinal drawings. He called the award the “Top Drawer” Award.

Bob was inspired by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a working order that dates back to the Crusades. He visited the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group in Jerusalem to see first-hand how it served the people in the region. In 2015, he was accepted as Confrere of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem by Queen Elizabeth II and was promoted to Officer of the Order in 2021.

Bob Butner loved his patients and his practice. He loved teaching the ophthalmology residents. He also loved travel, the military and military marches, the Green Berets, the Airborne Association, Sphynx cats, Bach concertos, maps and vexillology. He cherished friends. He was kind, and he genuinely cared about other people. He was not a self-promoter.

Dr. Butner was preceded in death by his parents and his nephew Sam Clayton Hesse. He is survived by his wife Carol Steib Butner, cousin Melinda Westbrook Rose and Wayne (Rose); sisters-in-law, Kathy Janssen (George) and Gretchen Hesse (Stephen); nephew, Curt Hesse (Kelcey) and great nephew Sam Wyatt Hesse, all of Houston. He is also survived by brotherin-law Clint Steib (Monica) and Clint’s daughters Destiny Steib and Jocelyn Steib of Austin.

Bob was a member of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where he served as Lay Reader and Usher.

A funeral service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday the 4th of December, in the sanctuary of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 4900 Jackwood Street in Houston, where The Rev. David Browder, Rector, is to officiate.

The family will gather for the interment at two o’clock in the afternoon on Monday the 6th of December, at Fairmount Cemetery, 1120 W. Ave N. in San Angelo, Texas.

In lieu of customary remembrances and for those desiring to make contributions, the family suggests memorial contributions be directed to The Priory in the USA, The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, 1850 M Street, NW, Ste. 1070, Washington, DC 20036; or to the charity of one’s choice.

Please visit Dr. Butner’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com where memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with his family.