John Robert Buck, age 89, of St Louis Park, passed away November 9, 2020.
John was born in Vandalia, IL on November 11, 1930, to Helen Mable Buckmaster and David Earl Buck. They moved to Decatur, IL when John was 10. Both his father and grandfather owned grocery stores and John spent many hours working there as a boy.
John became a private pilot at 19, then enlisted in the Air Force at the start of the Korean War in 1950. He wanted to fly, but was grounded for colorblindness. Instead, he became an instructor of operating systems of the jet fighters he wanted to fly. He met Mary Guetzloe toward the end of his time in the service when stationed in Montana. They were married shortly after and moved to Minneapolis so he could attend Northwestern TV and Electronics Vocational school. Upon graduation, John went to work at Univac, now Unisys, as a Technician. He worked there his whole career, progressing to Test Quality Engineer, supervisor in the Defense Division, Manager of Metrology, and finally Steering Committee Chair of Total Quality Management. John earned both his Electrical Engineering degree and MBA from the University of Minnesota while working full-time at Unisys.
John was a dedicated volunteer for many organizations, most notably Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for 16 years, Junior Achievement, and other community organizations helping people better themselves. He also was a part of Toastmasters for many years.
John loved to sing and was an active participant in many choirs throughout his life, including the Apollo Male Chorus and was a long time member of the church choir at Aldersgate UMC in St Louis Park, where he and Mary attended for over 60 years. John was a lifelong learner and was happiest when he felt he was improving or learning something new. John was a deep thinker, known for his honesty and kindness, and religion played an important part of his life. He would readily share bits of wisdom as well as his quick witted sense of humor. He loved the opportunity to fly when he was able, loved electronics and math, was an avid reader, enjoyed running earlier in his adulthood and golf later in his years. He loved desserts and Palm's Bakery donuts, making Palm's runs for our breakfast every Saturday morning for many years.
Preceded in death by wife of 65 years, Mary Buck. Survived by children Ann (Sidney) Wood, Robert (Cheryl Quinn) Buck, and Nancy (Tony) Baker; grandchildren Jennifer Wood, Allison (Lance) Lundquist, Annika and Kyle Baker; great grandchildren Max, Gus, and Oliver.
Private family memorial service for both John and Mary will be held at 10am Wednesday, November 25. Live stream link Interment at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the John R and Mary G Buck Scholarship at https://give.umn.edu/giveto/buck or the Alzheimer's Association, ALZ.org
A special thank you to Brookdale Eden Prairie for their care and love shown to John.
Due to attendance restrictions at church, this funeral service is private. Please visit this link to live-stream John's service on 11/25/2020 at 10 AM: http://www.aldersgatemn.com/video-and-audio-of-services/
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