Carolyn Butler Nisley

Carolyn Butler Nisley passed away on June 16, 2026, in Colorado Springs, CO. She was born on December 19, 1929, to Dr. James W. and Grace Butler in Mount Kisco, NY, where her father was pastor of the Mount Kisco Presbyterian Church.

She graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1950 with a BS in Education and later attended nursing school in St. Louis, MO. Much more than a homemaker and mother of four children, she was owner/founder/manager of two businesses - Andre’s Bakery & Pastry Shop of Little Rock, AR, and Daisy Corner Lingerie Shop of Richardson (Dallas), TX; manager of the Little Rock Racquet Club; executive director of the Arkansas Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society; and steward of Presbyterian and Lutheran churches.

Her happiest years were spent in Mount Kisco (first 10 years) and Colorado Springs (last 33 years), where she married Paul Nisley, with whom she spent over 15 years exploring Colorado and Nebraska (Paul’s home state). Rarely missing a week or weekend, she shopped at seasonal local farmers markets and got to know local farmers; visited (or hosted) her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who lived in Colorado Springs; Dallas; Nokesville, VA; Santa Cruz, CA; and Rochester, NY; gathered with a close circle of friends to play Mexican Train; and worshiped weekly at Christ the King Lutheran Church as a member, greeter, and volunteer. She embraced a rare combination of devotion to God, knowledge of sacred and secular texts, and dedication to acts of kindness and mercy to the disenfranchised.

Above all, her love for goodness and belief in principle sustained her: love for her sisters (a dynamic sisterhood!); for healthy diet and attractive appearance; for a neat and tidy home worthy of Marie Kondo; for daily prayer and readings in theology, philosophy, and history; for her Irish/Scottish heritage; for treating her body as a temple of the soul (holistic medicine, weekly workouts at a gym well into her 90s); and for sport and competition — in her youth, swimming and tennis, and in her Colorado Springs years, the NFL and Broncos. :)

Carolyn is survived by her four children, Oliver (Chip) W. Gatchell III, David Butler Gatchell, Nancy Elizabeth Gatchell Wheeler, and Peter Alexander Gatchell; by eight grandchildren (Witt, Phillip, Kathryn, Julie, Simon, Christopher, Caleb, Nathan) and nine great-grandchildren (Sebastian, Oliver, Easton, Aiden, Wyatt, Reese, Beckham, Collette, Holly); and by her two sisters, Elaine Toney and Janice (Jay) Parker.