Rolland "Butch" Guenther

For all of us whom have worked on the Delta Queen Steamboat Company boats, whom have been a passenger on them, or the few remaining other steamboats will certainly have had a chance of having met and travelled with "Butch" Guenther. For those who have never met Butch their steamboatin' would have certainly been less colorful. Butch passed away last evening at the Inpatient Unit of Hospice of Hamilton (Ohio).

Both Butch and his wife Ruth are legends aboard the DELTA QUEEN, and their number of trips are considerably more than one hundred. The friends that they have made are legion. The Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen, and its Middle Ohio River Chapter had an enthusiastic member that could be counted on being at the meetings, quite ready with a joke, most of which can not be printed here, and an ice cold beer. Butch will remain famous in Butler County, Ohio for his spear-heading the annual summer Ross, Ohio pig roast and its cousin the lobster night at the Farm Beer Garden. To be around Butch meant that you were going to have fun. If you didn't, you better do some soul searching of yourself to figure out why.

Hopefully, this Friday at about 10:30 EDST, when Butch's funeral starts, all the steamboats operating will give a whistle salute to rival Gabriel's welcoming salvo.

Visitation is at Charles Young Funeral Home on Cleves-Hamilton Rd. in Ross. It begins at 5 PM and ends at 9 PM on Thursday. The Funeral is the next morning at 10:30. The obituary should be published in both The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Cincinnati Post on Wednesday, July 25.

Condolences can be sent to the family at : PO Box 175, Ross, OH 45061