Louisiana woman carried in the arms of angels
In a recent column, I wrote about a visit with Anne Butler, owner and host of Butler Greenwood, an antebellum home in St. Francisville, which has been in her family for eight generations.
Anne is a longtime friend and supporter of DART’s, but also a survivor of attempted murder by her estranged husband. Murray Henderson, former warden of Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, shot Butler six times at close range on the back porch of her lovely home one Sunday in 1997. Then he began to reload his .38 pistol.
“That’s when the angels came,” Butler said, in a visit Kate Sartor Hilburn and I had with her after her book, “Weep for the Living” was published.
“There’s no other way to describe it. Two angels came down and held me so I wouldn’t struggle or cry out. They held me still as death, and Murray stopped loading his gun,” Butler said.
Contemplating that for a moment, Butler made a pronouncement.
“Those angels saved my life.”
We had met her when she made a visit to DART’s Ruston office during her book tour. On that day, she saw pieces of an art exhibit created by Kate and me, called Beating Hearts: Stories of Domestic Violence. In the exhibit, I write brief first-person accounts of survivors we have met, using their own voices.
Then Kate creates a photo construction, using one of the visual elements of the story. The exhibit includes specific themes or red flags of abuse, such as increased violence during pregnancy, progressive isolation, animal abuse as a means of control over the victim, verbal and psychological abuse, and impact on children.
“I would like to be one of the stories in your exhibit,” Butler told us, and we made plans to go to St. Francisville to hear her story firsthand. We sat on the back porch where she had poured a cup of coffee for Henderson on that fateful Sunday morning. Though they were separated, Henderson had never been violent.
Anne invited him to sit on the porch and have some coffee. She was gazing at the peacocks that used to wander around the home place, when she suddenly noticed that his voice had changed. Glancing up, she saw her estranged husband holding a .38 pistol, aimed at her.
“You want space?” he said. “I’ll give you space.” And he began to shoot.
Anne had a lengthy recovery period following this shooting. There were multiple surgeries and many other procedures to repair shattered bones and internal injuries. There was also the emotional turmoil of watching justice unfold, a process that took longer than she had imagined it would. Eventually, Henderson was convicted and sent to prison, where he died in 2004.
In the meantime, Anne continues to write books, to host guests at Butler Greenwood, to work on projects at Angola, and to help any victims of domestic violence who cross her path.
When fellow DART Community Advocate Kris Barney and I visited with her in April, she told us about recently helping a young woman who was fleeing a partner who had vowed to kill her.
“I took her to the police department, covered in blankets on the back seat of my car,” the calm yet determined survivor told us. I do not doubt that Anne, girded in steel and draped in grace, would do that and more if it meant helping to protect someone who is being threatened by someone who claims to love them.
We honor her and thank her for her example.
