This is the thirty-ninth of our Court Times articles that highlight up close and personal a member of the Indiana Judiciary.
Fayette Circuit Court Judge Beth Ann Butsch is our judge featured in this issue. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Indiana University in 1981, and her Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law (Indianapolis) in 1985. Following graduation from law school, she was employed as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Indiana prosecuting medical licensing complaints.
She moved to Connersville in 1988 and was a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for two years where she also began a private practice. Judge Butsch was Fayette County Attorney for four years. She was the first female attorney based in Fayette County and its first female judge when elected to the bench in 2010.
She graduated from the Indiana Judicial College in 2015, serves on the Supreme Court’s Court Security Committee, and is a member of the Indiana Judges and Juvenile Judges Associations, the Fayette County Bar, and the American Bar Association. Judge Butsch is a member and president-elect of Kiwanis, a member of Historic Connersville, and a member of First United Methodist Church, where she serves as a trustee, liturgist and delivers Communion to shut-ins. She is also a member and president-elect of A Dozen Of Us Book Club, the oldest women’s literary club in Fayette County.
Judge Butsch is married to Stephen S. Gottlieb and they celebrated their ten year anniversary in March. Steve received a degree in communications from Xavier University and worked as a radio news announcer before graduating from Indiana University Maurer School of Law (Bloomington). He is a practicing attorney.
Judge Butsch’s daughter, Emily K. Butsch (now Greeson), graduated from Indiana University-East with a degree in political science. Emily just completed her first year of law school at Indiana University McKinney School of Law. She is married to Joshua Greeson.
What do you like most and least about being a trial court judge?
What I like most about being a trial judge is being able to administer justice, being fair, and running a court that gives people faith in their justice system. What I like least: Being in a small community where people know their judge on sight. Some people act nervous or ill at ease and think I expect special treatment. I don’t! I also find many of the CHINS cases that come before me to be heartbreaking and very frustrating.
What was your major in college and why did you decide to study law?
My major in college was Biology. I studied Biology because I excelled at math and sciences in high school, where my Biology teacher was a big influence. It was my intention to work in a lab for a pharmaceutical company. Once I finished my junior year, I realized I would not enjoy being stuck in a lab all day. I wanted to engage more with people. I spoke to my guidance counselor, who suggested I take the LSAT, and I was on my way. I enjoyed practicing law from the very first day.
What would you do if you were not a judge?
If I were not a judge, I’d be a landscape architect/master gardener and spend every day outside in the sun.
Who are the people you most admire?
The people I most admired were my grandmothers, who were born in 1898 and 1900 before women were allowed to vote. Both of my grandmothers were hard working, brilliant women who never missed the opportunity to exercise their right to vote, and were always informed on current events.
They supported my decisions to attend college and law school and instilled in me self- confidence and the importance and power of higher education. They were excellent role models in every sense of the word.
What are your hobbies or favorite leisure activities, and how did you first get involved?
My hobbies are flower gardening, attending auctions, collecting antiques, hiking and reading. I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I started going to estate sales when I was nineteen and got hooked. My house is filled with furniture, pottery, oriental rugs and glassware I’ve collected over the years.
I’ve been a flower gardener for at least twenty years. Being outside in the sunshine digging in the dirt is the perfect antidote to being inside in a criminal trial all week. It is very gratifying to grow a perennial garden and see your plantings get bigger and better every year.
I like to hike because I like the outdoors and I like physical activity. My daughter and I took a trip to Yellowstone National Park recently for her 21st birthday and hiked the canyon rim, which was pretty difficult at that elevation.
What are your favorite books, and have you read any recently, or are reading now, that you would recommend?
My favorite books are anything written by William Faulkner or Eudora Welty. I just finished reading Indignation by Phillip Roth. Several months ago I met Robert Gipe, an author and professor of Appalachian studies, at a book fair in Cincinnati. I would recommend his book Trampoline to any judge who has juvenile jurisdiction.
Where did you grow up and how would you describe your childhood?
I grew up in Upland, Indiana, which is in Grant county. It is a very small town where we didn’t have to lock our doors at night. I was able to walk to school everyday and trick-or-treat with my friends without fear.
In many ways, my childhood was idyllic. I attended church every Sunday, went swimming and ice skating, participated in marching band and gymnastics. I never ate anything but the best homemade food, including preserves, pies, cakes, biscuits and fresh vegetables from my grandmother’s enormous garden. We were organic before it was in style.
Every Sunday after church we had a big homemade family dinner with extended family members. I didn’t realize how spoiled I was with the food until I went away to college and had to eat dorm food. I grew up in a matriarchal household with my grandmother, mother and sisters.
Do you have a favorite quote(s)?
My favorite quote would be: “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22,23.
Where is your favorite vacation spot?
My favorite vacation was the auto trip I took down the River Road from Memphis to New Orleans with my mother, sister and daughter who was age seven at the time.
We stopped in Vicksburg and Natchez and toured every historic house and site on the way, including the Emerald Mound native American burial site and the Natchez Trace. We ate lots of fried oysters and bread pudding and ribs and etouffe and toured the city of New Orleans before it was devastated by the hurricane. We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Vicksburg with cannon balls embedded in the dining room wall from the siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War. My daughter was convinced they were going to explode and tear the house down.
Do you have a favorite meal, recipe, and restaurant?
My favorite restaurants would be Taller Tapas in Barcelona, Spain and Iaria’s Italian on the near South side of Indianapolis featuring their linguini with clam sauce.
My favorite recipes (or I guess my family’s favorites) would be my Christmas menu of breakfast pizza, then for dinner bone in ham baked with honey and apple cider vinegar and brown sugar, sweet potato soufflé and pecan pie. For my daughter’s bridal shower and my ladies’ luncheons I serve my homemade spinach and Portobello quiche with lemon cupcakes with lemon zest for dessert.