In remembrance and honor of your birthday

I just learned this news tonight.
I am sorry to hear of Bob’s passing.
I met Bob when I captained a motor yacht for him back in 1983 to the Bahamas.  He later accompanied my group on another trip to the Bahamas.
Bob was a delightful travel companion and a joy to know.
I went to one of his art openings in Birmingham and was quite impressed by his unique talent.
Bob touched many lives in a positive way!
Joe Deatherage

Bob was one of my teachers in high school. He helped reshape my image of motorsports and what it meant to be involved as a profession. Without Bob, I would not be where I am today. I always hoped to have seen him again to let him know how helpful he really was. 

Condolences to Analie and all of Bob’s family.

His acts of kindness have touch many and I am truly grateful.

May he Rest In Peace,
Terry

I am sad to hear that Bob has passed. We were friends in the early 80’s while I was in school at UAB and he was working at Civitan. We actually roomed together for my senior year. Bob was a great guy generous and kind. I lost track of Bob after I graduated.  I tried to find him a few times with no luck.  A friend of mine and I actually built an engine for Bob to race at Daytona in 82. It’s funny as I am here right now for a NASCAR Experience.  We also went to Sebring together but the engine blew up in the first lap. We still had a great time. I have a ton of fond memories of that time. We even and a pig roast at our apartment for the Indy 500 one year. Sky divers, croquet, two pigs and a band. Want fun we all wore scarfs.  So sad to see him go. Rest well. 

Continued from earlier post. . .

"Where you from son" asked the stranger? "I'm from Birmingham Alabama!" replied Bob. "You're darn right you're lost" laughed the stranger. 

My wife Jan and I have so many fond memories of Bob - from SnoDo, to Youth Seminars, to International Conventions - he made a big impact on our young lives at the time. 

I suspect you were not able to give Bob a proper funeral due to the COVID shut down. I lost my sister Jenny around the same time as Bob and we still have not been able to hold a proper service for her. 

His memory is a blessing to us, and I hope he is to you too.

God Bless.

Tom and Jan Aikins.

Analie and Madeline - so sorry to hear of Bob's passing. I had lost touch with Bob a few year's back, and every now and then would search the internet but never found him. Last night I was helping my daughter Nichi who just moved into her first home and in her dining room she had hung an abstract painting Bob had given my wife and me as a wedding present nearly forty years ago. And we started talking about Bob and how we had lost touch with him. Nichi searched and found this obituary. So I am so sad to hear the news. And so wished I had been able to connect again with him. I met Bob through Civitan. I think it might have been at one of the early SnoDo 100 events that was held in my home town of Barrie. It was Bob who inspired me to get more involved, and eventually I was elected as International President and got to spend lots of time with him. We stayed well connected for the next five or six years. We paid a surprise visit to him at an international convention the year Nichi was born. We loved to play pranks on him. Sneak into his room at conventions or Youth Seminars and steal his entire suite of furniture and hide in the stairwells. We didn't tell him we were coming to this convention and when we arrived, we left Nichi in her bassinet at 3 wks old, knocked on his hotel room door, and hid around the corner. He was quite shocked and we had a great laugh over it. I looked forward to SnoDo every year. In those early days it was literally a 100 mile marathon. The half-dozen or so Junior Civitan Governors who would come to participate in the Barrie Civitan Club SnoDo 100 would ride a snowmobile in the event with hundreds of other drivers. Of course Bob would partake as well - and being the racing nut he was he loved to go full tilt. Urban legend has it that one year he got lost (trails were not marked all that well) and he stopped at a gas station and asked some folks there for help. "I think I'm lost" said Bob. "Where you from son" asked the stranger. . . .

Today, watching the Rolex 24 my memories of Bob came back as I recall us talking about Road Atlanta and Sebring and remember him describing what it was like to race.   I knew Bob in high school when he was living in Culpeper, Va and working with him at the Country Club as lifeguards.  Used to have wonderful times visiting his studio there and carrying on in general.  “Uncle Duke” is what my friend Roger and I used to call him.   I believe he drove a VW Beetle as I recall.  When I was in college I visited him in Atlanta on the way to Daytona Beach one spring break.  Such fond memories.  So sorry to see he’s gone.  I would have liked to have gotten on the phone with him  for some reminiscing.   Sorry for your loss.  

I have a painting by Bob,  it is over five ft  square on canvas in a wooden frame with neon lights  called "Trans America. It is  beautiful    Charles Chesser

I am Bob’s sister. He was born and raised in Milwaukee. The family moved to Florida when Bob was in the 8th grade. He graduated from Pompano Beach HS. After community college in Florida, he graduated from Western Michigan University with a BA in Art. He had a varied career with many interests. He was a High School art teacher in Atlanta, and then director of youth activities at Civitan International which I believe he did for 13 years. He was in charge of Marketing for long time NASCAR driver Dave Marcis which involved much organizing and traveling. It also involved setting up hospitality tents with thousands of snickers bars (a sponsor). He was involved in art his whole life and had shows and sales of his line paintings. He was a racing driver for many years and one of his best memories was being on the driving team that won the 24 hour race at Daytona. All the while we joked that his “jobs” seemed more like fun to us. Like sailing in Australia and snowmobiling in Canada for example. We will miss him and his funny stories. Analie Rademaker, sister

My brother, Robert, always had a great sense of humor and he loved a good laugh. When he was a teenager he worked for Kraeer Funeral Home, yes, this Kraeer.  One day he and his buddy received an assignment to drive a casket to the airport, their first time doing this. They were instructed  have their uniforms in perfect order and to look solemn and serious since people would look out the windows of the airplane when they saw the hearse.  All went well, and they parked next to the plane. As he exited the hearse he accidentally set off the siren! They both dove under the dashboard, trying to turn it off, but they couldn’t. They unloaded the casket, siren blaring, and the whole plane watching.....

Bob Buchler was my swimming coach at Walker High School in Dekalb County School System, of Atlanta, GA, 1971, through 1972. He was an art teacher and also sponsor of Civitan Club.
After teaching Mr. Buchler worked in the corporate offices of Civitan International for several years as director of growth.
Always into his art his coaching and direction of many young people changed so many lives for the better.  Bob returned to teaching as a stellar substitute in Gwinnett County Georgia.
His health problems of diabetes and a series of strokes took him downhill.
Coach Bob Buchler will be missed and I know in
Heaven he is coaching a swimming team, racing cars, and helping people!
Rest In Peace Bob.

OBITUARY

Robert A Buchler Jr.

November 22, 1946 – April 8, 2020

Kraeer Funeral Home & Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens

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