Willie Mae Buck

Graveside service for Mrs. Buck, will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at Oaklawn Cemetery in Decatur. Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Coker Funeral Home in Decatur.

She was born December 18, 1917, in Boyd to John Dee and Bell (Hodge) Pitts. She married Johnnie W. Buck on November 23, 1946, in Decatur. Johnnie was a member of the Lost Battalion who spent almost five years as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II. Mrs. Buck lived most of her life in Decatur before moving to Walla Walla in October 2007. She was a beautician in Decatur and at one time owned a hobby shop with her usband on the north side of the courthouse square. She was a member of the Church of Christ, a founding member of the Decatur Quilting Club, a member of the Lost Battalion Association, a Wise Regional Hospital auxiliary volunteer and a member of the Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary. She quilted, did crossword puzzles, played checkers and attended garage sales. She was a breast cancer survivor.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1999 and her son, Johnnie W. Buck Jr. in 1998.

She is survived by a daughter, Paula Buck Nichols and husband, Skip, of Walla Walla; granddaughters, Paula Michelle Carpenter and Jennifer Baker Nichols of Walla Walla; grandsons, Tyson Buck of Paradise and Trey Buck of Dallas; and two great-grandchildren, Jacob Thomas Carpenter and Nicholas Reese Carpenter of Walla Walla.

Memorial donations may be made to the Lost Battalion Room at the Wise Heritage Museum.

Coker-Hawkins Funeral Home 940/627-5959