Thomas Gilbert Buchanan Jr

Thomas G. Buchanan, Jr., 78, of Springdale, Arkansas, passed away on March 19, 2026. A lifelong Northwest Arkansas man, he was a proud United States Marine, a consummate professional who spent his life behind the wheel, and a devoted husband, father, and friend whose word was as good as a contract and whose loyalty never wavered. Tom was born on April 26, 1947, in Prescott, Arkansas, and moved with his family to Springdale as a boy, where he would spend the rest of his life. He graduated from Springdale High School in 1966 and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving as a Lance Corporal during the Vietnam era before his honorable discharge in 1968. He carried his pride in the Marine Corps with him for the rest of his life, and his love of country never dimmed.

Tom came to work early delivering newspapers by bicycle in the second grade and never really stopped. He built a distinguished career as a professional truck driver, driving for various freight carriers and spending 23 years with Consolidated Freightways before the company’s closure in 2002. A proud Teamsters Union member for 30 years, he also drove long haul for Tyson Foods and transported recreational vehicles across the country. He was meticulous in everything he did, and his record reflected it he received numerous safe driving awards over the course of his career. In perhaps his most cherished chapter, Tom spent 16 years as a special needs school bus driver for the Springdale School District, where he was named Driver of the Year in the transportation department of the Springdale Public School System. Every Friday he brought suckers for his students, and he made a point of attending some of their graduations a measure of how much they meant to him. He later drove for Village Travel, transporting groups and sports teams to events throughout the country before retiring in 2024, when his health finally required it a man who worked until his body insisted otherwise. 

Tom and his wife Lois had been classmates at Springdale High School, and fate brought them back together in 1996. They were married that December and built a life that was, by every account, full and good. For more than two decades they traveled the country in their motor home, and a shared passion for racing dirt tracks, drag strips, NHRA, and NASCAR gave their years together a particular joy and energy. Lois’s daughters, Lea and Lisa, became daughters to Tom in every meaningful sense, and he embraced their husbands and children as his own. His Baptist faith underpinned the values he lived by kindness, honesty, hard work, and loyalty. He looked out for the less fortunate and helped when he could, and he never made a promise he did not intend to keep. His son reflects that Tom was a man who approached everything in life his work, his relationships, his obligations with diligence, dedication, and an uncompromising commitment to honesty. Those lessons, passed from father to son, are perhaps his most lasting legacy. Tom took the same pride in his personal life that he brought to his work. His vehicles every one of them were among the cleanest in town, hand waxed to a shine and that included his RV and, by all accounts, a few lawnmowers. He was equally particular about his yard and how it was kept. It was not perfectionism for its own sake; it was simply the standard he held himself to in all things.

Tom is survived by his wife, Lois J. Buchanan of Springdale; his son, Thomas G. Buchanan III; his stepdaughters, Lea Bilyeu and her husband, Johnny Seals, and Lisa King and her husband, David; his grandchildren, Blake, Matthew, and Justin; his great-grandchildren, Eva and Alex; his brother, Kenneth Buchanan and wife, Karen; and his sister, Marilyn Horn and husband, Derl. He was preceded in death by his father, Thomas G. Buchanan, Sr.; his mother, Neva Buchanan; and his sister, Nancy Gettig. Tom was a member of Elmdale Baptist Church of Springdale.

Following cremation, Tom’s ashes will be interred 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 27, 2026 at the Fayetteville National Cemetery with Full Military Honors.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 3890, Little Rock, AR 72203.