Jordis “Jordie” Hamilton

Jordis “Jordie” Hamilton had no interest in growing older, said her friend of 36 years John Reddick.

The Butler resident always disagreed with the sign across the street from her home, which read “elderly pedestrian crossing,” because she never saw herself as an elder, Reddick said.

“She just did not want to get old,” he said of Hamilton, who died Tuesday, Jan. 17. “She really struggled with how good she was back in the day to where the good Lord led her to just the last couple weeks.”

Reddick was referring to Hamilton’s athleticism as a runner and a Judo champion, a sport whose women’s division she helped legitimize through her achievements and work as a Butler YMCA instructor from the 1970s to the early 1990s. The Butler Sports Hall of Fame inducted Hamilton, a fourth degree black belt, for her work in Judo in 1979, a testament to her hard work and excellence.

Hamilton had built much of her life in Butler through St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, now a part of All Saints Parish in Butler, over the last 50 years. She served as an altar server, reader and Sunday school teacher there, forging lifelong friendships with people who attended the church and other Butler residents.

“She was just a kind person who would reach out to anybody,” Reddick said.

Reddick remembered a time a broken elbow sent Hamilton to a rehabilitation unit at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, he said.

“She just befriended all the people who were around her,” he said. “That would have been a calling for her to be able to help and administer to people, because she was just so giving and loving for all the people that she met around her.”

She also worked as a paraprofessional at Butler Intermediate High School, he said. There she would help teachers and work one-on-one with students, including students who used wheelchairs or had other disabilities.

“So that was just a part of her persona was just how kind and loving and giving she was throughout her life,” he said.

Hamilton, once an athletic runner who participated in many races organized through St. Paul over the years, remained active with these events even as time passed, said Sister Nancy Schnur.

“She ... participated in all religious and social events,” said Schnur, a nun at St. Paul who had known Hamilton for the last 15 years.

“We had a 5K, 10K race last June, and Jordie took her walker and did the 1-mile, certainly an example of perseverance and how she loved to exercise and to be with people,” Schnur said. “She never gave up. .... She wasn’t interested in winning the race. She was interested in being with people to be able to say she did her part.”

“Her faith, her hope and her love were the three things that were important in her life,” said Harry Bielewicz, a pastor who had formerly served at St. Paul and was a friend of Hamilton’s.

She was very prayerful, attended all the Catholic services and participated in multiple roles with the church, Bielewicz said.

“Her hope was important to her too,” he said. “She always saw the light.”

“And her love,” he said. “She loved everybody. She loved to be around everybody. She loved to be at every single event.”

Hamilton is survived by her son, Kim Hamilton.