Darlene "Cookie"

Butterfield

Stuart — Darlene "Cookie" Butterfield, 92, of Stuart, formerly of Clearwater and Atkinson, died Friday, March 28, 2025.

Visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at Seger Funeral Home in Atkinson with a 7 p.m. prayer service.

Visitation will continue from 9-11 a.m. on Friday, April 4, 2025 at the Atkinson Methodist Church in Atkinson.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 4, 2025 at the church in Atkinson.

Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 5, 2025 at the Pilger Cemetery in Pilger.

Memorials may be made to the family for future designation.

Darlene was born at Clearwater, June 9th, 1932 to Gerald and Inez Smith. Darlene got her famous nickname of “Cookie” from her dad at the age of two. Her family lived in Pilger for a short time. They moved to Wisner when she was in the second grade. In high school, Cookie worked as a Soda Jerk for Elmer Maginnis's drug store and soda fountain. Elmer trained her to weigh each ice cream treat. She was also a proud member of the National Association of Soda Jerks. She would later teach her children and grandchildren how to make Phosphate Sodas, Ruffnecks, Malts, Sundaes, Banana Splits, Floats and much more. While in high school, she was crowned the prestigious Livestock Queen, which she was very proud of. Cookie loved to play the clarinet. She was appointed first chair in the high school band. 

During her junior year, the band attended the Wayne State Music Contest, where they received a “Superior Plus.” As a reward, the band director took the band to the El Rancho Steakhouse, formally located at the highway 275/15 junction. On this evening, as chance would have it, John Butterfield was also there and asked her to dance. This would spark the beginning of their relationship.

After graduating from Wisner High School in 1950, she was offered a job at Mable's Style and Beauty Shop where she apprenticed under Mable Wagner to get her beauty license. Mable soon realized Cookie would be fantastic in her style shop working in sales. She loved this position from the beginning. 

After dating five years, John and Cookie were married on Jan. 30th, 1955. They lived and farmed 2½ miles West of Pilger, a stones throw from John's folks Leigh and Esther. During this time Christi, Jay and Lori were born.

In November of 1964, the family moved 14 miles north of Atkinson to P&P Feedlot. Ann was later born in 1971. Cookie's life was filled with family and friends, there was no such thing as a day of rest. Every Sunday after church, during the summer months, she would pack the igloo cooler full of picnic delicacies. The family would join the Peterson's at Fort Randall Dam for a day of boating and water skiing, this included lots of food and fun! Hospitality was Cookie's specialty from spur of the moment gourmet dinners for cattle buyers, to warm cinnamon rolls and coffee for anyone stopping by.

In 1973, the family moved 1½ miles north of Atkinson, to the pink house. Cookie and John had many good times with Larry and JoAnn Mitchell. This included evenings, going for drives to far off places like Stuart or Spencer, as well as flying across the country to Niagara Falls with Larry as their pilot.

Cookie went back to using her talents in fashion at “The House of Seasons” dress shop, where she worked for 25 years for her friend Maxine Krieger. She was a fashion expert and could put together an entire ensemble with clothes, jewelry and scarves. Scarves were one of her specialties. She enjoyed organizing style shows and doing scarf demonstrations.

Cookie was a member of the First United Methodist Church. She enjoyed teaching Sunday School, singing alto in the choir, Hannah Circle and hosting Vacation Bible School at her home. She served on the West Holt Memorial Hospital Board for several years. Cookie especially enjoyed helping with the Booster Club. She was a member of many organizations. She joined the State of Nebraska Order of the Eastern Star in 1952 and held many offices including Worthy Matron and honored her membership for a lifetime. Cookie was a Chairman of the Holt County Republican Women and held the office of President for a time.

Each fall for several years, Cookie hosted a hunter's weekend that included friends of her son Jay. Menu items included egg dishes, frozen fruit salad, layered lettuce salad, grilled steaks, famous cinnamon rolls, apple and cherry pie, apple crisp alamode, three kinds of cookies and more! If she wasn't entertaining, you could find her watching Husker football with a bowl of popcorn.

After retirement, John and Cookie moved to Norfolk where they made fast friends with new neighbors, inviting them over for coffee. They enjoyed many holidays and weekends spent with their children and grandchildren. At one point, when talking about Cookie's parents and great-grandparents who homesteaded near Woodlake, it was discovered Dr. Randall and Cookie had an ancestral connection. Ever since, they enjoyed conversing about relatives and people they both had known. From then on, he was family.

A new adventure began, when Cookie moved to Parkside Manor in Stuart. The paths of Cookie and Sally Rossman reconnected here. Their laughter and shenanigans are still echoing through the halls. What a wonderful ending to a full and adventurous life!

Cookie is survived by three daughters Christi (Martin) Griffith of Norfolk, Lori Butterfield of Omaha and Ann (Jason) Hardy of Columbus; one daughter-in-law Pam Butterfield of Brainard; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and one sister Colleen (Merlin) Heinemann of Wayne.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband John, one son Jay, one brother Delmar Smith and one sister Velma O'Neill.        

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