Albert Lewis Butler Sr. was born on this day in 1893, in Reidsville, to Charles Clifford and Emma Ostwald Butler.
He attended schools in Reidsville and came to Winston-Salem in 1911. He was employed at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Wachovia Bank & Trust Company. He became the private secretary to Hugh G. Chatham, president of Chatham Manufacturing Company, in 1914.
Butler is credited with helping the company grow from a small manufacturer with 500 employees to a company of 3,500 employees. He participated in the decision in 1940 to close the Winston-Salem plant, established in 1907, and move all operations to Elkin where the company was established and had a large plant. He was also involved in expanding the company into products other than blankets.
Butler became secretary of Chatham Manufacturing Company in 1927. He was elected vice president in 1932 and president in 1945, when Thurmond Chatham was in the Navy. He became board chairman in 1955.
Butler was a director of Arista Mills in Winston-Salem and a director emeritus of Washington Mills. He was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and served as president of the Twin City Club.
Butler was married to Annie Medearis, and he passed away in 1971.
