Dwight Lewis Buck

Dwight L. Buck of Stuart, Florida, passed away peacefully on July 6, 2021. He was 97. He was married 44 years to Anna “Jean” Buck, who preceded him in death in March, 2020. Born in 1924 in Chillicothe, Ohio to Rosa Elizabeth Bleecher and Dwight Smith Buck, he was the oldest of eight children, which included six brothers, James, John, Herb, Paul, Tom and Bill, and one sister, Mary. Of his siblings, only Bill, the youngest of the family, survives him, along with his wife, Karen. Also surviving are 20 nieces and nephews and his step-daughter, Ann L Brown, and son-in-law, Gordon H Brown of Ft Lauderdale, FL.

When Dwight was 10 years old, he started a paper route delivering the Chillicothe Gazette evening paper. Each of the other six boys in the family fell heir to the route as the older brother moved on to other activities. When WWII broke out, his sister, Mary, took over the paper route, as all seven brothers joined the Armed Forces to support the American war effort.

In 1942, at age 17, Dwight enlisted in the US Navy. Because he was colorblind, he was transferred to the Army two months later. His basic training was in Tampa. He then spent time in Louisiana, Gulfport, Mississippi, Denver, Colorado (for gunnery school), and Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. It was at Wright Patterson where he was transferred to the Army Air Force. He worked as a mechanic on aircraft and taught women to be mechanics. (i.e. “Rosie the Riveter”.) From there, he was sent to Seattle to do his most important work as a mechanic on the sophisticated B-29 aircraft. In 1945, Dwight contracted malaria, a fairly common occurrence in the military in WWII. He was sent to a hospital in Portland, Oregon, and received an Honorable Discharge from the Army. Dwight said he “learned a lot about life” in the service.

After the war and the recuperation from his illness, Dwight worked in various financial fields which eventually took him to Hutchinson, Kansas, where he met his future wife, Jean. There he founded a leasing company for agricultural equipment, which was very successful. After marriage in 1976, he and Jean soon moved to Stuart, FL for an early retirement. It was hardly retirement, however, as Dwight started a propeller business and managed and chaired the board of an Ace Hardware store before fully giving up his career. Since Jean was a travel agent, they enjoyed several European trips during this time.

Dwight and Jean lived in Stuart for 40 years in a house with a dock on a canal, where they could take their boat, “Jeanne” out almost every day to fish. It was his favorite pastime in life. He and Jean devoted their lives to the churches where they were members, and were always involved with the choir, the Living Christmas Tree at First Baptist, and other helpful endeavors. They built intricate wooden crafts which they gave away to friends, and shared the fish that they caught with the missionaries of the church and many others. Dwight was known for lending a helping hand to friends whenever they needed something repaired. He maintained the drinking water system on the settlement where they lived and provided leadership to his community.

Later in life, when Jean developed dementia, they moved into an assisted living facility apartment at Grand Oaks in Palm City, where Jean could attend memory care sessions during the day, and the two of them could enjoy late afternoons and evening dinners together. This arrangement allowed them to continue living with faith, love, and the opportunity to hold hands to the end of their lives.