GARY WAYNE BUCHANAN

Gary Wayne Buchanan passed away on November 15, 2025 in Vero Beach. He was born to Pauline Hammett and Dewey Phillip Buchanan in Marion, NC on June 28, 1948. He is preceded in death by his parents and his only sibling, an older brother, Terry Phillip Buchanan. In the late 1950's, he moved with his parents and brother to Sebring FL, where he graduated from Sebring High School.

Wayne and his wife of 59 yrs met during the summer before their senior year of high school. Rosalee was a new arrival to the Sebring area. She and Wayne were introduced through one of Wayne's co-workers who just happened to be Rosalee's sister. She and Wayne dated through their Senior year and married during the summer of 1966. Gary Wayne is survived by his wife and their three children, Kathi, Debbie and Phillip Wayne and 6 grandchildren. Kathi is married to Hank Cord and their children are: Rachel, Hendrik and Caroline. Debbie is married to Xavier Peries. They have two children: Sophie and Daphne. Phillip Wayne married Melania Chila, and they have one child, Ophelia.

In November, 1967, Wayne moved his family to Vero Beach, where he worked for Piper Aircraft. After experiencing many lay-offs, he went to work for the Vero Beach Fire Dept. He was in the first group of firemen to become licensed EMT's for Indian River County. In his off time he worked for a private non-emergency ambulance company owned by two local firemen and staffed by part-time off-duty firemen. On Saturday nights, he volunteered his time to the Vero Beach Volunteer Ambulance Squad. Wayne decided to move his family to Leigh High Acres for better pay and joined the Leigh High Acres Fire Department. He later took a job with Morrison Knutson Construction Company as a Fireman in Saudi Arabia where the company was building King Khalid's Military City. He came home when his father died, kissed the ground when he got off the plane and never returned to Saudi Arabia. Immediately, his QC training at Piper came in to play and he was hired and trained by U.S. Testing to work FPL Nuclear outages as a QC inspector.

Wayne has worked all over the country in the Nuclear Power Industry sacrificing time away from his family to provide for them. He worked as a contractor at the FPL Nuclear Plants in FL, but later branched out to many other nuke sites across the country. He eventually was hired permanently by FPL and worked 20 yrs for them. When FPL started down sizing, he was among some of the last ones to package out of the QC Dept. However, that was not the end of his QC career. He worked in the Duke System (via contractors) in North and South Carolina for many years during their spring and fall outages. He was honored to become a regular at the South Carolina Oconee Plant and worked exclusively on their outages for many years until, he decided to officially retire.

Although, Wayne enjoyed his work as a QC inspector, his first love was the Fire Department and being an EMT. He especially loved helping people as an EMT.

During the late 1990's, Wayne quit smoking and began physically working out regularly. He started running to stay in shape and later entered many races. Over the years, he has won several Blue Ribbons in his class but mostly he did it for fun or to help a cause. He ran the 7 Mile Bridge in the FL Keys and a couple of Disney Marathons from which he received Disney Medals, which he displayed with pride for his accomplishments.

Wayne and his wife were baptized in the Baptist faith and are proud members of Genesis Church in Vero Beach, where he also served as a Deacon for several years. His celebration of life will be held at the Genesis Church on Saturday, November 29th at 11:00 AM.

Memorial donations are asked to be given to the Genesis Church of Vero Beach to help promote the teachings of Jesus Christ through the word of God and especially saving souls.