The world lost you on Jan. 31, 2022 at the age of 62. A man known for your humor, dancing and love of music, you will be greatly missed.
To the world you were known as Curtis Wayne Welty, the Hartford mailman with the long hair and mirrored sunglasses. To those closest, you were known as Butch, the big brother, the hilarious cousin and fun uncle. To your eleven grandchildren you were known as Grandpa. To us, your six kids, you were known as Dad, the one who told us to shut the door because you were not paying to heat the outdoors. The same dad who reminded us to spend our lives doing what makes us happy. You encouraged us to do the work we were gifted to do, which is what you did in your own life.
Always a man in uniform, you left Hartford for North Carolina in 1977 to join the Marines. You served our country well as a sergeant until 1985. That same year you returned to Michigan to join the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier in Hartford. You loved being outdoors, walking your mail route; and the people you served until 2017, loved you, their mailman.
On your days off, you loved to go to Van Buren State Park for a cookout and a trip to the Lake. You enjoyed relaxing with a cigarette in hand, skipping stones and watching the waves crash along the shoreline (and to watch your kids slide down the sand dunes). Some of us were jealous of your year-round tan.
You also enjoyed watching Michigan football and made it clear that it was not OK to play the Notre Dame fight song in the house. Baseball was your favorite, not only watching it from the comfort of your chair, but also playing catch when the weather was right. There were many Sundays where you’d fall asleep watching NASCAR as you cheered for “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville.”
Above all, your passion for music was contagious. You always said that you couldn’t play an instrument but you could play the radio! You inspired all of your children to love and to appreciate music. Because of you, all of us do. Though rock music was your jam, one of your favorite songs was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Now, every time we see a rainbow in the sky, may we think of you.
For those of us who are near there is an acute awareness of your absence, for those of us who are far we wait for just one more text with the next song recommendation or the reminder to “behave,” or an I love you. Whether near or far we all would like to hear you sing “Bad to the Bone” or see you step out of your mail truck one more time. Instead, you are gone.
Though you left this world without fanfare, we want those who have known you throughout the years, to have this moment to reflect upon your influence upon their lives as they read this tribute or see a mail truck pass by or hear Stevie Ray Vaughn riff on his guitar.
Who would have thought that Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps’’ could bring a tear to the eye? But, it does. Dad, you will be greatly missed.
In lieu of a memorial gathering and flowers, Butch’s family requests donations to be made in his honor to the Marines Memorial Foundation (https://marinesmemorialfoundation.org/).