April 17, 1944 — Sept. 3, 2024
“Her warmth was her trademark.”
Amanda Louise (Butler) Pyle, 80, a longtime Rogue Valley resident and elementary school teacher, passed away Sept. 3 at Celia’s Hospice House in Medford.
Amanda was born in McNary, Arizona, on April 17, 1944, the second of Ruby and Kenneth Butler’s five children. The family lived in nearby Springerville, Arizona, at the time of her birth and later in Flagstaff, Arizona, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Glendale, Arizona, where she graduated from Glendale High School in 1962.
She attended Arizona State College (now Northern Arizona University) where she met her future husband, Tom Pyle, while they were taking journalism classes. They were married in Glendale June 27, 1964, and then lived in Boulder and Trinidad, Colorado, before moving to Ashland in 1969. They lived outside Phoenix, Oregon, for 15 years before returning to Ashland.
Amanda attended Southern Oregon College (now Southern Oregon University) in Ashland, graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education. She then taught third grade, for the most part, at Phoenix and Talent elementary schools, for 28 years before her retirement.
Teaching was not a “job” for Amanda — it was a passion. She is especially remembered for involving students in creative projects and also for giving every one of them a hug as they left her classroom at the end of each school day. A prized possession of Amanda’s is an apron she wore for (“joyfully messy”) class projects. On it are the words “To teach is to touch a life forever. Thank you for touching ours,” signed by members of her 1997-98 third-grade class at Talent Elementary School.
Always the teacher, even after retiring from the profession, she served for 22 years as a volunteer art project leader in classes taught by her son Andrew at Lone Pine Elementary School in Medford.
Amanda was also involved in many activities outside teaching. She was an active member of the Ashland chapter of Soroptimist International, helping with such activities as fundraising, decorating for club functions and making Christmas wreaths. Amanda felt honored to be asked to help select recipients of college scholarships awarded by the chapter. She also volunteered for the Southern Oregon Historical Society and other organizations.
Family, however, was Amanda’s first priority in life. Nothing was more important to her than her husband Tom, sons Andrew and Ernest, their spouses Christiane and Jill, respectively, and grandchildren Lucan, Sinead, Milan, Owen and Wyatt, all of whom survive. Andrew and his family live in Ashland, while Ernest and family reside in Portland. Other immediate family members surviving are Amanda’s sisters Ethel of Austin, Texas, and Helen of Phoenix, Oregon, and brothers Ken of Show Low, Arizona, and Connor of Chandler, Arizona.
Amanda will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her. Friends and family will remember her beautiful smile, sense of humor, infectious laugh, artistic gifts, generosity, being a “creative” scorekeeper at family card and board games, and so much more.
As per her request, Amanda was cremated and her remains interred in Mountain View Cemetery, Ashland, with Litwiller-Simonsen Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. A celebration of life will be held on a date as yet to be determined.
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