Charles E. Buchanan

Charles E. Buchanan Jr. age 91 of Johnson City, TN passed away Sept. 10, 2024 from an extended illness at JCMC in Johnson City. He was the son of the late Charles Elmer Buchanan Sr. and Birdie Burleson Buchanan.
Charles spent most of his childhood in Glen Ayre and then a year in Baltimore, MD where his parents worked during WW2.
Charles attended Glen Ayre Elementary School through 5th grade and a year in Baltimore, Maryland before returning to North Carolina. At age 16, Charles graduated valedictorian from Bowman High School. He then attended Lincoln Memorial University and graduated from Wake Forest University where he Majored in Chemistry and Minored in Mathematics. He was hired by Penn-Dixie Cement in Kingsport, Tennessee in 1954 to sample and analyze cement in the plant.
He was drafted in 1955 following the Korean War and sent to basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and was later stationed in Fort Huachuca, Arizona for two years.
After his service in the Army, Charles was rehired by Penn-Dixie Cement in 1957 at the Clinchfield, Georgia plant.  In 1958, he was transferred to Nazareth, Pennsylvania to work in the research lab where he made many improvements to the process and eventually became the Head of Research and then Vice President of Operations. He later founded Roan Industries Inc.
In 1959 Charles married Faye Ollis. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this past June.
Charles was extremely involved in The American Society of Testing Materials and obtained three life-time achievements in Cement, Concrete, and Masonry Cement. He has been the only person to achieve this honor.
Throughout the years he liked gardening and raised a variety of vegetables, strawberries and apples. He enjoyed the ponds he built in Glen Ayre which he stocked with fish. He looked forward to hosting the Buchanan Family Reunion each year.  Charles was an avid Wake Forest fan and would watch every Wake Forest ball game that was on TV.
He was baptized in 1947 at the Little Rock Creek Baptist church in Glen Ayre. In 1963, he was the Financial Treasurer and Deacon at First Baptist Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  He later he served as a Deacon at the Corinth Baptist Church in Vance, South Carolina and then a deacon in the Bakersville Baptist church in 1999.
He is survived by his wife and soul mate of 65 years, Faye Ollis Buchanan, of the home and sons, Charles Buchanan and wife Jo Ann of Glen Ayre, and Gregory Buchanan, one daughter, Christa Knecht and husband Jamey all of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and his grandchildren Laurel Kutler and husband Brad of Scottsdale, AZ, Maggie Buchanan of Wrightsville Beach, Elizabeth Grace and Jake Knecht, both of Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
The family received friends Saturday, Sept. 14, at Henline - Hughes Funeral Home. A celebration of life service was held Sunday, Sept. 15, in Bakersville Baptist Church with Reverend Jim Sutton officiating. interment followed the service at The Lelia Randolph Buchanan Cemetery on Hwy 261 in Glen Ayre.
The family would like to give special thanks to their extraordinary neighbors: Roger, Shaun, Betsy and Denny. Also to his home care workers Lee Ann and Olivia. And to Amedisys nurses Katie Lynn and Telia.
Flowers are appreciated or memorials may be made to the Bakersville Baptist Church PO Box 2 Bakersville NC 28705 or the Hospice of your choice.
Henline - Hughes Funeral Home assisted the Buchanan family.