Jeffrey Butya is going home.
Mya Garrett, a funeral director at Thomas-Little Funeral Service Inc. and Crematory, confirmed Sunday that a Butya family member had stepped forward to pay the outstanding balance on the cremation service that Garrett’s business performed following Jeff’s death on Feb. 7.
Garrett said that payment was made Sunday and that one of Jeff Butya’s nephews was scheduled to retrieve Jeff’s cremated remains Monday from the Oakdale location.
A GoFundMe page that Garrett started to obtain donations to help cover the unpaid balance of $3,285 had $70 in it as of Sunday afternoon.
But that GoFundMe page was in the process of being taken down after payment was received from Cassie Butya – Jeff Butya’s former sister-in-law — and her two sons.
Garrett said Butya’s nephew asked that the $70 be donated to a charity.
Garrett said she was pleased to finally have the situation rectified. Jeff Butya’s ashes had been in a state of limbo since his cremation following his death, as no one from the Butya family had come forward to pay the bill or claim Jeff’s ashes.
“This is what needed to happen,” Garrett said Sunday. “I’m glad someone stepped up for him and he’s going home.”
Cassie Butya, who owns All-Star Sports Bar & Grill, where Jeff Butya had worked for many years prior to suffering a stroke last December, said that Jeff’s brother, Brian, had made the cremation arrangements and that she had been out of the loop.
“Our family hasn’t talked to Brian in about 30 years,” said Cassie Butya, who was married to Jeff’s brother Ken before he died in 2017. She has since remarried and said earlier that she had no role in the funeral planning or decisions regarding Jeff Butya’s cremation.
Cassie Butya said she wasn’t aware that Brian had not paid for the cremation bill until reading about it.
“I assumed everything had been handled,” said Cassie Butya.
Efforts to reach Brian Butya Sunday as well as numerous times over the past several months were unsuccessful.
Denise Cartisser, a longtime patron of All Star Sports Bar & Grill, poses with Jeff Butya in October 2022. (Photo courtesy of Denise Cartisser)
Denise Cartisser, who donated $50 of the $70 that the GoFundMe effort had received as of Sunday afternoon, said she and others she knows were shocked to learn that Jeff Butya’s cremation bill had never been paid.
“People were under the impression it was taken care of,” she said.
Cartisser said she felt compelled to donate to the cause because she considered Jeff Butya “a very close friend.” Cartisser said she patronized the bar & grill for well over a dozen years, bringing her daughter and even her mother, who was once the guest of honor at a surprise birthday party once.
“Jeff even brought in an Elvis impersonator for her,” she recalled through tears Sunday.
“He was very good to me and my family. He and my daughter were very close. She’d go shopping at the mall and bring everything back to the (bar) and show him everything they bought. He was so patient.
“It broke my heart when I read about this.”
Butya grew up in Robinson Township and graduated from Montour High School. He and his brother, Ken, operated Butya’s Tavern – a well-known establishment off Route 60 – for more than 20 years before Ken and Cassie Butya opened All Star Sports Bar & Grill in 2008. Jeff worked at the new establishment from its inception until suffering a stroke late last year. He died two months later.
His work at the two local restaurants was just part of Jeff Butya’s story. An undersized football player at Montour – he stood just 5-foot-6 and weighed 165 pounds – he garnered no scholarship offers but was determined to play Division I football at Penn State. Through sheer force of will, he did just that, earning a spot as a walk-on and appearing in games during the 1980 and ’81 seasons.
After his college days, he earned notoriety for his work at Butya’s Tavern, which attracted sports celebrities from various local teams. He was close to several Pittsburgh Penguins players and even was invited to one player’s wedding. In addition to his restaurant work, he also took time off at one point to serve as a roadie for such acts as Fleetwood Mac and Barbra Steisand.
But it was his restaurant work where he touched the most people through the years.
Cartisser said it was Butya’s personal touch that made her and others come back to All Star Sports.
“He was just an amazing person and that was the reason we went there,” she said. “He would go to a liquor store and buy my friend’s favorite wine if they didn’t have it.
“He went above and beyond.”
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