Richard Orville Buck

Richard Orville Buck, age 74, Richie to his close friends, died Saturday, May 17th at his home in Clarksville, surrounded by his family. Following his cremation, his funeral mass will be held at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church on Friday, May 23rd at 9:30. He was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, August 27, 1939, and raised on a wheat farm by parents Melvin and Ruth, where he and his older brother Kenneth developed a love of animals that remained throughout Richard's life. As a teenager Richard was forced to make his own way in the world and through the charity and love of Edward Keck, he was allowed to live at Uncle Ed's gas station while he attended high school. Uncle Ed was a decorated WWII veteran, and he taught Richard both patriotism and a love for cars. Richard found that the local cops would not follow him out onto a frozen lake, no matter how fast he was speeding. He briefly worked at Corning Glass before joining the Army. A country boy from Michigan became a Cold War warrior who saw the world. He rose rapidly through the ranks, serving as a radar scout, tech sergeant, drill sergeant and ultimately working on the Davy Crockett nuclear weapons project. He was on the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, assisted the citizens of Alaska after the disastrous 1964 earthquake, and kept the peace along the frontier between the Iron Curtain and Western Europe. He was a proud member of the 1st Cav, and his unit was portrayed in the movie "We Were Soldiers." He was an instructor at the Infantry School at Ft. Benning as his final post. After his military service, he worked at Southern Bell/BellSouth headquarters until retirement as a Staff Manager, and was on the emergency restoration team after Hurricane Hugo. While at Bell, he was very active in charity work, donning a clown costume to entertain children in the local children's hospitals in Atlanta. He also ran in many 5K races to raise money for a variety of causes. After retiring from Bell, he worked for Home Depot for 10 years, and enjoyed helping people learn new skills. In 2002 he and his wife Carolyn retired to Clarksville where Richard finally had both a small kitchen garden, and a shop where he could restore old vehicles and furniture. He was active in the parish of St. Catherine of Siena, and was a Knight of Columbus. He was a past Grand Knight, and was a 4th degree Knight at the time of his death. He was the stew master of the Knights of Columbus, where they would routinely sell out 500 quarts of stew. He was the American Legion Post 45 Commander at the time of his death. He had restored a variety of old military vehicles which were used in local parades, most recently in the Clarksville Christmas parade. He was involved in the boat trips where the American Legion brought veterans from the local VA hospitals out for a day on Kerr Lake. He was also involved with raising funds for the Island Creek Project, a 100% handicapped accessible park on Kerr Lake where disabled veterans could come and camp with friends and family. But main thing Richard was known for was his love of family. He married the love of his life, Carolyn, while he was stationed at Ft. Benning in 1962, and they had recently celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary shortly before this death. He and Carolyn had 2 children, Mona, who was a computer engineer who left engineering to follow in her father's footsteps to help people as a RN at Halifax Regional. His youngest daughter, Andrea, is both a MD and a lawyer who works for the federal government, formulating policies to help all Americans. Andrea's husband, Gregg, a newspaperman in Washington, DC, was like the son Richard never had, and Richard had been working on restoring a Jeep for Gregg shortly before his death. He is also survived by his devoted cat, Bo, and his dog, Murphy. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you adopt an animal from the local SPCA, donate to the SPCA building fund, or donate to the American Legion or other veterans group of your choice. In Richard's memory, the family asks that those who knew and loved him do one act of kindness to someone human or animal, which will hopefully be passed on by the recipient. As Richard often said, "If we're not here to help each other, then why are we here? Go make a difference."