Malcolm Taylor Buttram

Malcolm Taylor Buttram

Saturday, April 9, 1949 - Sunday, January 22, 2023
Malcolm was born in Whittier, California, where his father had retired from a position as a field geologist. His family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, while he was still quite young. He lived there until he graduated from Pascal High School as valedictorian. Malcolm then attended undergraduate school at Rice University and went on to attend Princeton University where he was granted a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship while completing his doctorate in Nuclear Physics. After graduating from Princeton, he completed post-doctoral studies at the University of Illinois and then became an assistant professor at Iowa State University. After an extensive search in what seemed to then be a flooded degree field, he found a position at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) where he had a successful career in directed energy until retiring in 2008. During his time at SNL, he received the Erwin Marks Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pulsed Power Technology and was a very respected manager.
While at Rice, he met his wife Paula in a French class. He loved to tell the story of how he believed Paula had followed him nonstop begging him to go out with her until he finally relented. After graduating from Rice, Malcolm and Paula got married in 1966. After marrying, Malcolm and Paula had three children: William (Bill), Adrienne, and Daniel. Malcolm was a very doting husband and father.
Malcolm loved to poke fun at all those he loved. He especially enjoyed teasing Paula. One story he loved to tell was after breaking his nose playing touch football. For many years thereafter, he would tell anyone who asked that Paula had broken his nose. Malcolm also loved to take pictures, but he was quite adept at ensuring Paula's mouth was open and full of food before capturing her image.
Before Bill was born, Malcolm commented that Paula looked like she had swallowed a bowling ball. In this honor, he attempted to make a pink bowling ball cake to commemorate Bill's upcoming birth. Despite many efforts, he ended up with a dome-shaped cake instead of a full ball.
Malcolm loved to call his daughter, Adrienne, "Stinky-potamus" in memory of her ability to create exceptionally fragrant diapers. Adrienne hated this nickname, but it stuck, nonetheless.
Malcolm's youngest son, Daniel, was his fishing buddy. After Daniel finished law school and took the bar exam, Malcolm took Dan to Alaska for a very special fishing expedition. They flew on a puddle jumper to a small, remote fishing area. The chef at the small lodge they were staying said that he'd be happy to bake them a blueberry pie if they went and gathered the blueberries. They chose not to fight the bears for the berries and went without pie as they had just encountered a mother bear and her cubs while fishing for salmon in a stream. During this same trip, they also got to go deep-sea fishing in the region where they caught halibut as long as Malcolm was tall. They came home with 85 pounds of halibut from that trip.
Fishing was one of Malcolm's favorite pastimes. He enjoyed taking the entire family deep-sea fishing every summer off the gulf coast of Florida. Each time, the family would come back to shore with coolers full of fish. They would clean and package all of the meat and pack it in ice for the long drive back to New Mexico where they would shove it in the freezer and then never eat it. See, Malcolm loved the pastime but was never a fan of eating what he caught.
Just as devoted to his grandchildren as he was to his children, Malcolm will always be remembered for the special memories he created with each of them. He used to spend hours digging in the yard with his first grandson, Brendan. At one point, they came across a four-inch-long grub in the yard. They named it Junior and kept it in a jar to see what it would do. His grandson, Clayton, remarked about how Malcolm would put his granddaughter, Grace's, stuffed animal cats on his head and tease them about his lovely new hat. Clayton also fondly remembers his long walks around the neighborhood together.
After a life spent devoted to the Lord, it became evident that, though his devotion to the Lord never faltered, he was not devoted to a specific church body. He was truly devoted to his wife and followed her as she moved between churches as the choir director and organist. His devotion to her even included moving the very large bellows from the organ so that it could be repaired. His love for children extended to all the children of the church where he would often volunteer in the nursery while young parents attended choir practice.
Malcolm was blessed with eternal peace on Sunday, January 22, 2023, after a devastating battle with Alzheimer's disease. Malcolm will be lovingly remembered by his wife, Paula; their sons, William and Daniel [Sarah]; his grandchildren, Brendan, Clayton, and Grace; and his sister, Mary Lou. He will also be fondly remembered by his church family at Christ the King Anglican Church in Albuquerque, NM. Malcolm was received in heaven by his father, William Aaron Buttram; his mother, Lou Etta Buttram; and his daughter, Adrienne Elizabeth Buttram.
Malcolm's Funeral Service will be held at Christ the King Anglican Church, 2525 Vermont St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110 on Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. A reception in his honor will follow immediately thereafter.