Click here to view the funeral service for Butch

Duane "Butch" Woodbury, age 83 of Carson, ND passed away on Tuesday evening, June 1, 2021 at the Jacobson Memorial Hospital in Elgin, ND.

The Funeral Service will be held at 10:00 am MT on Saturday, June 5, 2021 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Carson, ND. Pastor Bethany Haberstroh will officiate with burial at Carson Community Cemetery.     The service will be live streamed and available for viewing on Butch's obituary on our website at www.evansonjensenfuneralhome.com

Visitations will be on Friday, June 4 ^th from 4:00 - 7:00 pm MT at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Elgin and one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday morning.

(Butch) Duane Charles Woodbury, the 2nd of 7 siblings, was born to John and Ida (Weishahn) Woodbury on February 8, 1938. During the 30's several Carsonites moved to California, consequently, Butch was born in Sacramento. They returned to Carson in the early 40's and raised their family there.   Butch attended school in Carson, participating in the usual sports along with the Golden Gloves program, and area rodeos, graduating in 1956. He continued to rodeo, entering saddle bronc, bareback, bull riding and steer wrestling.   He was most proficient in bareback and steer wrestling, competing mainly in those two events until we could convince him that he was just getting too old.

After graduating he worked for the North Dakota State Highway Department working on the overpasses for I-94. After that he worked for Fat McLaughlin and Dick Balliet until his mother asked him to come home to help her run the farm. He returned to Carson and has been ranching until 2019 when he "retired" after selling the ranch to 3 of his sons. He hated leafy spurge. He spent many years spraying that ugly weed. When the county finally formed a weed board, he was the first to volunteer to be on it. He served as a board member 25-30 years when he suggested that his son, Dick, take his place.

He met Jean Buchholz, a teacher at Roosevelt Public School in 1963. They married in 1966 on Ground Hog's Day, so that the day would never go by without notice, remembering their anniversary. They raised 4 active boys. He was not an affectionate man but he loved his boys dearly and they meant the world to him and he was very proud of them. He finally admitted when he was older that he could not have accomplished what he did without their help, especially Jerry, who started following him around when he was 3 and stayed with him to the end.

He was a gambler at heart, not only at cards, but also with the business and his life in general, which seems to have paid off.

Butch was a good friend and family man with a good heart.   He will be missed by many including his wife of 55 years, Jean, 4 sons, John (Julie) and their children Katie, J.D., and Wyatt; Ross, ND; (Whitey) James Jason, Jerry (special friend Barb), and Dick (Jessica) and their children Colton, Dylan, and Layton all of Carson, ND; sister, Elaine Tyson in AZ; 3 brothers, Claire in AZ; Alan, Dickinson, ND; and Larry, Mpls, MN; and many others including sisters-in-law, special friends, extended family and great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, 2 brothers Dale and Robert, and the majority of his best friends.