Meet Your Neighbor
Zona Butler
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
Circumstances in Zona Butler's life have changed a lot since she pursued a double major in biological engineering and pre-med at Mississippi State University and today, where for several years she has held the position of senior vicepresident of Operations and Information Technology at Nantucket Bank. What has not changed are the things that matter most to her - close family ties, creating a cozy, comfortable home and devoting as much time as possible to her community.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent

Born in Louisville, Miss., when Zona was in third grade her family moved to Milwaukee, Wis. After she graduated from high school, Zona returned to Louisville and began studies at MSU, where she met her future husband Elvis Butler. After college she went back to Milwaukee to work, including for a period at the University of Wisconsin. The Butlers married in 1988, spent their honeymoon on Nantucket, which he had visited in prior summers, then moved permanently to the island only a couple days after their honeymoon ended.

"I've been here ever since," said Zona. "I started working at the bank exactly seven days after we moved here, and here we are."

Zona said even though her college interests were far afield from her current occupation, she recalled an attraction to banking that began in childhood, seeing the ladies in her small hometown banks all dressed up and seeming glamorous.

"I'd always fantasized about working at a place like that," she said. "My life at Nantucket Bank has always been a joy ride on the way up."

The Butlers have three children - Whitney, 18, who graduates from Nantucket High this June, Joshua, 16, and Jazzmin who is nine. All three play basketball.

While Zona's job keeps her busy, she participates in the community as much as she can, having served on the boards of Small Friends on Nantucket and Habitat for Humanity Nantucket. She is currently on the board of the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club.

In her uncommitted time, she enjoys reading, karaoke, garage sales and, especially, home improvement projects. She gets hints from Home and Garden TV for painting and redecorating, and is presently launching a kitchen make-over of as yet to be determined details.

Her big dream is to win the lottery, but she also likes to travel. Besides the three to four anticipated family road trips to see her family in Mississippi each year, she has fond memories of her 2006 visit to Hawaii and would like to tag along to France when her daughter's culinary class travels there this year. In fact, just in case, she already has her passport ready. Zona also said she is fascinated by the law and contemplates returning to college to earn her degree as a juris doctor. However, she has one other special wish that many of us might share.

"I'd like to retire at a young age, build a nice big house and do nothing," she said laughing. "That's what

I aspire to." I