Typed as spelled and written
- Lena Stone Criswell

THE DAILY DEMOCRAT
Sixty-Second Year - Number 215
Marlin, Texas, Monday, December 24, 1962

GEORGE S. BUCHANAN'S FUNERAL
HELD HERE SUNDAY AFTERNOON,
MASONIC GRAVESIDE RITES FOLLOW

Funeral services for George S. Buchanan, 60, who died Dec. 18, in an Americana, Ga., hospital of injuries received there the preceding day in a car-truck crash, were held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Adams Funeral Home, with burial in the family lot at Calvary Cemetery.

The funeral was completely filled for the rites for the former newspaper owner and publisher, Chamber of Commerce manager, and first and always a booster of Marlin wherever he went.

Rev. H. B. Streater, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Marlin, of which Mr. Buchanan was a life-long member and a deacon, delivered the funeral oration.  A Masonic rite was conducted at the grave.

The minister's message consisted of passages of Scripture from John 14, lst Corinthians 15, and Romans 8, stressing the assurance of everlasting life for those who are Christ's.  The service concluded with worshippers uniting in the Apostle's Creed.

Rev. Streater, in giving a brief biographical sketch of Mr. Buchanan, said it was almost needless to attempt to chronicle all the man's wide associations and activities, all of them directed to working to the good the community.

Among his activities which haven't been mentioned previously here, and which many remember Mr. Buchanan best for, were his efforts put forward in helping to bring the Veterans Administration Hospital to Marlin, and before that, helping to obtain a new courthouse for Falls County.

Among his associations which haven't been mentioned were those of past worthy patron of the Eastern Star, honorary member of Sigma Delta Chi, national professional juornalism (sic) fraternity, member of both the Texas Press Association and East Texas Press Association, member of the Knights of Pythias in the days they maintained a lodge in Marlin.

When he left his position as manager of the Marlin Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, after 17 years there, he had held the post longer than any other Chamber secretary in Texas.  This fact was brought out in state conventions.

His roll as town booster was well known.  In all his travels over the country he was proud to herald the name of this resort city.  In former days he took pride in telling strangers about the city's Bluebonnet Foto Fiesta, an enterprise which he himself originated and saw grow into a state-wide event before its ending.

Out-of-town relatives attending the funeral were:

Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Yates, Mrs. Webb Atkins, Mrs. W. M. Lyles and Mrs. Lonnie Padgett of Waco, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Turner of Dallas, Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Arnett of Lamesa, Mr. and Mrs. L. G. Norris of Marshall, Mrs. C. F. Hillin of Baytown, and J. L. Scarborough, Mrs. R. C. Salley, and Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Rowe, Jr., of Houston.

Mrs. Buchanan was seriously injured in the accident that took her husband's life.  She remains a patient in the Americus and Sumter County Hospital at Americus, with compound fractures of both legs and a head injury.

The couple were en route to Norfolk, Va., to spend Christmas with their son, George A. Buchanan, a resident of that city.  They had left Marlin Sunday and had spent Sunday night at Meridian, Miss.  They planned to spend Monday night at Savannah, Ga., and go on the next day to Norfolk.

Their 1961 Falcon station wagon, with its load of Christmas presents, packages of holiday food and a dozen baskets of mistletoe, was totally wrecked when the driver smashed into the rear side of a tractor truck and trailer, at an intersection of two major highways on the outskirts of Americus.

Mr. Buchanan was thrown from the car when the driver's door flew open, striking the concrete with his head, causing his main injury.  Mrs. Buchanan's head partially pierced the windshield, then she fell backward onto the car's front seat.  Neither of the passengers were wearing safety belts.

George A. Buchanan, who arrived Saturday evening to attend the funeral of his father, and who left at 5 a. m. Monday by plane out of Waco on his return trip, said while here that his mother's legs will be placed in a cast on Wednesday of this week, and barring complications, she will be removed to Marlin in some two or three weeks.

Mr. Buchanan said he already had placed an order for a new station wagon, to be fitted as an ambulance, and that his mother will make the trip to Marlin in the car, accompanied by a registered nurse.  Mr. Buchanan will drive the car.  Accompanying them also will be a man driving another car, who will help in removing Mrs. Buchanan from the station wagon at nights.

Mr. Buchanana said his mother would remain in the cat probably six months.  During that time he plans to be at with her, taking a leav of absence from his work.

He said that meanwhile her condition is listed as fair.  The laceration injury to her head occurred at the hairline and the scar remaining, due to its position, is expected to be hardly evident.  She never lost consciousness in the accident, he said.

During the funeral service here, a Presbyterian minister at Norfolk remained at her side.  At the service here a pictorial history of the service at the funeral and at Calvary Cemetery was made, plus a sound recording of the events.

Mr. Buchanan junior said the collision occurred at an intersection, where, in his words, an optical issusion prevents a strange driver from noting he's crossing a major highway.  He said six major had occurred there in six months and that a man was killed there only a month ago.  He said the city of Americus had taken the matter to the state legislature.

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Copyright permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing by
The Democrat, Marlin, Falls County, Texas.