Veteran celebrates her 100th birthday

Hungry Horse News

Agnes “Butchy” Ryan celebrated her 100th birthday at the Montana Veterans’ Home Monday. She got her nickname from her maiden name, which is Butchkosky.

Ryan grew up in Hazelbrook, Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Army as a second lieutenant on May 14, 1945, serving as an Army nurse.

She was discharged after World War II on July 25, 1946.

On June 8, 1946 she married Ben Ryan and they were married for more than 70 years. The two both lived at the Veterans Home together for a few years.

Ben grew up in Three Forks and Livingston. He studied at Stanford University for two years before World War II, then enlisted in the Army, where they taught him to be a fighter pilot. He was in the reserves and saw active duty in 1944, where he flew P-39s and P-38s protecting the Panama Canal, he said in a 2016 interview.

After the war, Butchy worked as a nurse to support Ben while he finished his petroleum engineering degree from Stanford.

Ben worked in the oil industry across the country and abroad, including California, Wyoming, Venezuela, and Alaska. He recommended searching for oil in Prudhoe Bay, which turned out to be one of the largest oil fields in North America.

After leaving the oil business, the couple lived in West Glacier for 45 years, where they had an air strip and a tree farm for decades.

“We had a fun and active life with no time to get in trouble,” Butchy recalled in a memoir.

Butchy’s advice for a long life?

“Be happy,” she said.