Horace "Butch" Clark Bird, Jr





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Horace "Butch" Clark Bird, Jr
October 31, 1938
January 4, 2023




Horace “Butch” Clark Bird Jr was born October 31, 1938 in Medina, NY to Horace Clark Bird Sr and Aurelia Dodson Vaughn Bird. He was raised on the family farm on Ridge Road and graduated from Medina High School in 1956. Butch attended Cornell University, playing saxophone in the Big Red Marching Band. After graduating with B.S. and master’s degrees in electrical engineering in 1961, Butch joined the US Air Force and piloted C-130 cargo aircraft, receiving the Air Medal, and earning the rank of captain. While based in Tachikawa, Japan, he met Dayle Cross. They married in 1964 and moved to Rochester, NY in 1967. Butch (aka “Clark”) worked as an engineer at Eastman Kodak Company and held patents for the first instant camera. He was a member of the Rochester Flying Club and shared his joy of flying with his family and friends. He restored his MGA car, boats and antique radios, and was a ham radio enthusiast. His corny “dad” jokes and mischievous smile were legendary. After retiring from Kodak in 1995, Butch started his next chapter: teaching English in Osaka, Japan, then in Bangkok, Thailand, returning to the US in 2018 due to health issues.
 
At the time of his death, Butch was a resident of the Scarborough Maine Veterans Home. His family would like to express their sincere appreciation to the wonderful staff and residents for making him feel at home there.
 
Butch was preceded in death by his parents; 2 brothers, Robert Bird and Leslie Bird; sister Emily Horner; and infant son Stephen Bird. He is survived by daughter Pamela McDaniel (Eric); daughter Carolyn Bird (Gregg Ritter); and son Jeffrey Bird (Laura Taddeo); wife Dayle Bird; 7 grandchildren: Ryan, Sophia and Jin McDaniel, Erin and Cecilia Bird Ritter, Joshua and Simon Bird; twin sister Helen Rhoad; sister-in-law Leah Bird; brother-in-law David Horner; and many cherished nieces and nephews. The family will have a celebration of his life at a future date in upstate NY.
 
Donations in Butch’s memory can be made to: The Maine Veterans’ Homes Scarborough https://mainevets.org/locations/scarboroughdonations/, and Lollypop Farm (Humane Society of Greater Rochester) https://www.lollypop.org/.


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