In the world of Carol Butlin, there were dolls and then there were dolls.
The former were objects of girlish affections, to be dressed up and cuddled. The latter were to be admired, rarely touched collector’s items, sometimes hand-made by Butlin herself.
“She was a very talented woman,” said niece Sarah Gleim, of Decatur. “She was a singer and painter, but she loved her dolls. She collected antique and rare dolls her entire life.”
With no formal training, Butlin not only made dolls, but clothing and accessories as well, said niece Lisa Gleim-Jonas, of Atlanta.
“She would always say that she wished her parents could have sent her to art school, but it was a different time back then,” Gleim-Jonas said.
Carol Gleim Butlin, of Atlanta, died Thursday from complications of cancer. She was 71.
A service was held Sunday at H.M. Patterson & Son Arlington Chapel, which was also in charge of arrangements. Burial followed the service at Arlington Memorial Park, Sandy Springs.
Born in Parsons, Kansas, the former Carol Gleim moved to Atlanta with her parents. In her youth, she competed in several pageants, including Miss Atlanta and Miss Dixie, both in 1964.
When she wasn’t creating art, Butlin often worked retail in various jewelry stores, her nieces said. It was at some of those stores that she would later sell her artistic creations.
“In her later years, she began carving these large eggs,” Sarah Gleim said. “She would do the most intricate work on them, and create these scenes on the inside. Some of those eggs she was able to place in the cases of the jewelry stores where she once worked.”
In the 1980s Butlin opened the Doll Shop in Decatur, where she not only sold some of her hand-made dolls, but she taught classes.
“I remember the Doll Shop as a haven for creativity,” Gleim-Jonas said. “She had things for the dolls and dollhouses and how to make them, if that is what you wanted to do. She would gladly teach others how to do these things.”
Even in her senior years, Butlin’s talent continued to amaze her family. She was able to make a teddy bear for Gleim-Jonas’ daughter from a drawing the little girl gave her.
“The fact that we could sit down, without a pattern, and turn this two-dimensional drawing into a three-dimensional item, I think that is a rarity today,” Gleim-Jonas said. “Modern technology causes people to lose sight of that kind of craftsmanship.”
When it came to art, Butlin’s goal wasn’t to make money, but to bring happiness into her life and the lives of others, her nieces said.
“She loved creating,” Gleim-Jonas said. “And she did it all by hand.”
Butlin is also survived by her son, Christopher Butlin of Lilburn; daughter, Ashley Butlin of Tucker; and two granddaughters.
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