Otis “Tennel” Buchan died Jan. 26, 2016, in Lakeland, surrounded by his family.
Mr. Buchan was born Nov. 14, 1916, in a farming area, Broxton, Georgia, in Coffee County, to Daniel Otis Buchan and Minnie Lee (Caves) Buchan. He grew up in the south Georgia area. His early years were spent in between Broxton, Georgia, where his family lived on a shared farm; Plant City, Florida, where his family worked as migrant workers; and in the Miami area, where some of the family briefly worked and lived.
His early education showed promise as he was advanced from first to second grade early, but his education faltered when the demands of helping the family harvest crops curtailed his formal education in third grade.
Later, he taught himself to read using the King James Version of the Bible, which he loved and read daily even until his death.
He married Hazel (Higgs) Buchan. They had three children, Peter Larry (Jimmy) Buchan, of Jacksonville, Nell (Buchan) Dominick, of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and Donald “Wayne” Buchan, of Cardova, of Tennessee.
He took work where he could find it. As a ship fitter, he welded the inside of the hulls of ships for the war effort in World War II and was deferred from the draft by his companies’ management, which was unknown to him at the time.
He was later drafted into the United States military, where he briefly served in the Armored Tank Division of the U.S. Army as a tank operator. He was discharged early to return to his large family after completing basic and assigned skill trainings.
After he returned home, his wife became ill and died from double pneumonia, forcing him to move to follow what he called “public” work. It provided him a means to send money to support his growing kids as family.
He later met Mavis (Wiley) Buchan, of Sylvester, Georgia, and married her. He moved his new family to Augusta, Georgia, and began working for a neighbor who was assisting in the building of a major U.S. military facility, the “H” Bomb Plant, across the border in South Carolina.
He then moved the family to the Wicker Park area of Chicago in the early 1950s.
He gathered his family together again in Augusta, as he was able to find work there. Over the years, his family grew to seven children. He raised them in a shell home he was able to buy and complete in Melrose Park.
After moving to Chicago, he began working as a union carpenter, a skilled trade from which he eventually retired. On his break time, he could always be found sitting in his pickup truck, reading a small New Testament Bible. He would often lead coworkers in prayer, witness to them about the redeeming love of God and even bring them home and to church.
In the early to mid 1970s, after most of his children left the home, he and his wife moved the remaining members of the family to the Lake Alfred area of Florida in his first retirement. The Assemblies of God asked them to take over caretaker functions at Camp Alafia, a youth camp.
They returned briefly to Melrose Park in the mid to late 1970s where he earned additional retirement credits.
He retired again in the 1980s and moved to Lakeland, where he and his wife taught Sunday school “for the old folks” out of an Auburndale, Florida church. They went to work again for the AG as caretakers of the newest AG family camp in Lake Wales, Masterpiece Gardens.
Together, he and his family built three homes: one in Lake Wales and two in Lakeland. They began acquiring properties in need of repair. They were longtime members of the Assemblies of God and active members of Victory Church in Lakeland.
He is survived by his children; Nell Dominick, Jimmy Buchan, Wayne Buchan, Junior Buchan, Debbie Griffin, Greg Buchan and John Paul Buchan; 12 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; sisters, Evelyn Oletta “Letta” (Buchan) Cliett and Minnie Lee “Bill” (Buchan) Cliett; and several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Daniel Otis and Minnie Lee Buchan; sister, Corrine “Jean” (Buchan) Solomon; brothers, Caroll Kenneth “Billy Boy” Buchan and Alfred Buchan; first wife, Hazel Buchan; and late wife, Mavis Buchan.
A celebration of life was held Jan. 29 at Victory Church in Lakeland, officiated by Pastor Otis T. Buchan Jr. A burial service with military honors was held Feb. 2 at Bushnell National Cemetery.
Online condolences may be made at WellsMemorial.com.