Wilbur Jere Buck

1935 - 2019

BORN

1935

DIED

2019

Wilbur Buck Obituary

Name: Memorial service for Wilbur Jere Buck
Start: 2019-09-15T21:00:00.000Z
Location: Plaza Grill Banquet Room

WILBUR JERE BUCK

1935-2019

Wilbur Jere Buck was born in Arcata, CA, August 22nd, 1935 and passed away August 17th, 2019, he was 83 years old. He is preceded in death by his wife, Edwina, his parents Wilbur & Blanche Buck and his older brother Seth Buck. He is survived by his 2 daughters, Shawna Buck (James) of Seattle and Wendi Bennett (Craig) and his beloved grandchildren Jerry and Rilie Bennett, all of Martinez. He was a lifelong resident of Arcata, attending Stewart School, Arcata High School (go Tigers!) – where he was Student Body President, and graduated from Humboldt State College with a B.A. and a Master's degree in Education. He met his wife of 58 years, Edwina, while both attended Humboldt State and were married August 1, 1959.
Jere had 2 careers - one as a teacher/coach/Vice Principal at Dow's Prairie and McKinleyville Jr. High but at the age of 18 he joined the Arcata Fire Department. He eventually left teaching and became a full-time Captain, a Fire Marshall, and retired as an Assistant Chief in 2000. He loved spending time at the family cabin in Petrolia, CA – sitting around the fire with family and friends swapping jokes and stories (some actually true). Jere loved sports and was a passionate and vocal fan of all levels – elementary school, high school, college and pro. He loved music and played trumpet throughout his school years taking pride in being both a marching Tiger and a marching Lumberjack!
Buck loved his family – especially the grand-kids, the community, sports, music, food, and life in general. He will be dearly missed for the love, support, horrible singing, laughter, and joy that he sent everyone's way.
There are so many wonderful people and organizations the family would like to thank – they are too numerous to name here but the healthcare community in Humboldt County deserves special mention. We would also like the thank family and friends for their love, support, kind words and thoughts during this difficult time. In lieu of sending flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity – some of our favorites include Hospice of Humboldt County, Sequoia Humane Society, and the Humboldt Bay Conservancy.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, September 15th at the Plaza Grill Banquet Room in Arcata, CA starting at 2pm with a short service there at 2:30 pm. All are welcome!

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Times-Standard on Sep. 7, 2019.

Memories and Condolences
for Wilbur Buck

Sponsored by Times-Standard.

3 Entries

James & Francesca

March 25, 2022

I feel like we are in the right place. Alice was my grandmother's name, and my great grandpa's name was Buck. After a piece of mail came we became more curious as to who you were. So we fired up the internet and searched. Your obituary popped up. We read your obituary out of curiosity about who you were. We are renting your home on Alice Ave. in Arcata with our twin 8-year-old boys. It is so wonderful for us to be here. Quite obvious to us, you were an amazing person in our community, who loved his family, and they loved you too, dearly. You were a true Paterfamilias to our community and to your family. We are very spiritual people and we feel at home in your home. Living here has been and still is so wonderfully peaceful and cozy for us. It was a true Godsend that we were chosen to be able to rent your wonderful home. We strive to consider to honor all those who have come before us. Your legacy means a lot to us. How it came to be that we are here is a wonder us that can only be explained by God's work. We grew up in McKinleyville and attended both schools you taught at. I was in the class of 1990, and am still searching to find your familiar face in a staff photo. Maybe Loberta Gwin has one or two of you in her historical book "Dow's North of Mad River". It is an interesting read that we highly recommend for local historian buffs and family legacy sleuths. We are excited to explore the pages once again. I grew up and lived next door to Gene & Roberta Gwin and Loberta & Don Gwin. Don and Loberta sold their neighboring house off of Pickett Road in McKinleyville, to my adopted parents in the early 1970s. Don and Gene were carpenters and they used to make cartoon windmills for all of us neighborhood kids after they retired. It was a nice small tight-knitted community back then in the 1970s. Nothing like it is today. Loberta was the Librarian at the Middle School and retired there and has since passed away last year in 2021, at the age of 99 years old. The great memories of my youth are cherished greatly. What a small world we live in! We have wonderful neighbors, across the street here on Alice Avenue, that have a bunch of kids. Two of them are little girls that are our boys' age. Amazingly odd, yet memorably comfortable to me that we are here on Alice Avenue. All the kids play games in the street and often play basketball, with hoops on each side of the street out front. I feel like you know that Jere. I'm sure you are smiling down upon us and are watching over us while we live in your home. We can feel a of peacefulness that comes over us at times here. Making us feel like everything is going to be all right. We are in the right place. We believe you are at peace with us living in your home, which is so pleasant. If you were still living, I would have loved to sit down and talk with you and just listen. I am sure you held a lot of tales about our local history and your achievements in life. I would have even liked to hear you sing and play the trumpet. You were a true Gem, a rare find. We are glad we are here, and glad we know more about you. Rest in Peace our New Dear Friend we did not know you, but we would have liked to. Your friends still walk by the house and we talk to them. We are sure they miss you dearly. Signed, James and Francesca, Cody and Dean

Jack Selvage

September 29, 2019

Dear Family of Jere : We we're deeply saddened to hear of His passing . Unfortunately we were out of the country and unable to attend his celebration of life . We had you in our thoughts and prayers . Sincerely Jack and Leslie Selvage

Dolores and Bill Rogers

September 13, 2019

Dear Shawna, Wendi and families,

We had the pleasure of having dinner with
Jere on Wednesday nights at Fiesta Cafe.
He was always a lot of fun and an authority
on Arcata history. He had a great memory of
all things Arcata. We miss him so much.
Our condolences to all.

Showing 1 - 3 of 3 results