Lamar Bud Weaver Jr.

Lamar “Bud” Weaver Jr. was born on August 31, 1923 at Fort McPherson, Georgia. Bud was the second of four children born to Lamar Weaver and Geraldine Lonergan Weaver. He died on February 6, 2018 at the age of 94. Bud graduated from West Point in 1945. His brothers, John (class of 1950) and Tom (class of 1955) followed him at West Point. Bud met his beloved wife, Rita Jane Crancer at Our Lady of Lourdes in Southern France. Rita was from Leavenworth, Kansas and Bud was on his way to Leavenworth to attend the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, KS. He affec-tionally called this meeting “my miracle of Lourdes.” The miracles continued when they discovered that Rita’s brother, Jerry Crancer (class of 1955) and Bud’s younger brother, Tom were classmates at West Point. Bud and Rita were married on June 27, 1959 in the old Catholic Cathedral in Leavenworth. They were blessed with three children, John, Mary Beth, and Julie.

Col. Weaver served as an Army officer for thirty years, initially in the Infantry and sub-sequently in the Quartermaster Corps. While in the service he earned a graduate degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He had many assignments managing Army petroleum requirements in Okinawa and Korea, throughout Europe, and in Washington, DC. He served as a the commander of the U.S. Army Petroleum Group, Europe and was an instructor and director of the Department of Logistics at the Com-mand and General Staff College in Leavenworth, KS. Following his retirement from the Army in 1975, he served as the Director of the Kansas Energy Office for two years. He also taught in the Leavenworth parochial school system and at a local college as an ad-junct professor.

Having spent 46 years in Leavenworth, they moved to San Antonio into the Army Resi-dence Community (ARC) where they forged a new lifestyle - making new friends and re-establishing old friendships. They were grateful to be closer to his brother, Tom and his wife, Sue. Bud was also delighted to have his sister-in-law, Dorothy Crancer and niece, Mary Jo and her husband, Ed Dallas join him at the ARC. In his own words, Bud “loved God, his family, and derived both strength and comfort from them. He was a pa-triot and felt quiet pride in having been privileged to march in the “Long Gray Line” through thirty years of service in the Army.”

Bud was preceded in death by his wife, Rita Jane of 57 years and most recently his brother, Tom. He leaves behind his children, John (Becky), Steilacom, WA; Mary Beth (Mary), Portland, OR, and Julie (John), Sterling, VA along with his five grandsons, Jef-frey, Andrew, Bennet, Daniel Lamar, and Beau. He was loved by many and will be deep-ly missed.