William “Bill” Edwin Buck

Bill Buck was born in Windsor, Ontario in 1930 to parents Margaret and Harold Buck (deceased) and sister Margaret (Peg) Buck (deceased).  Bill was known for his ability in sports, in high school, including swimming, basketball, and baseball. His skills in baseball drew the attention of major league scouts and he was drafted by the Toledo Mud Hens Baseball team, a Detroit Tigers minor league farm club team.  He joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, was awarded a scholarship, traveling to Great Britain on an Air Cadets international Exchange.  The die was cast, and upon his return, he finished high school and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Shortly after joining the Royal Canadian Air Force, Bill married Sophia Andrashuski (deceased) from St. Thomas, while in basic flight training in Aylmer. At the end of the Korean War pilots were no longer needed in substantial numbers, so Bill re-mustered into Physical Education Training.  Bill and his young growing family, served in France at 2-Wing Grostenquin, France, RCAF air base.  Upon his return to Canada, he served in Centralia and Base Borden, Ontario. While in Borden he

served on a 6-month peace keeping mission in Cyprus. After his return to Canada, he was stationed, to RCAF Base Gimli, Manitoba, where in addition to his base PERO Officer work, he organized Gimli Air Shows, and he was the drum major for the Gimli RCAF Marching band.  Returning to Base Borden in 1966, he was assigned the task of training soldiers from across the military to perform in the Expo 67 Cross Canada Canadian Forces Military Tattoo.  He and his staff trained over 175 soldiers to become performing gymnasts in the Tattoo, traveling in two separate trains across Canada starting in the east and the west, ending and joining together in Montreal for Expo 67, where they performed daily during the Expo as a massed band and military tattoo, the largest in Canada’s history.

After Borden, the family transferred to Lahr Air Base, West Germany where he was PERO for Baden and Lahr Physical Education programs. Bill and family returned to CFB Kingston where he was tasked with training officials and field judges for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.  His final posting was to CFB London, where he ended his 31-year career in the military – but not before serving with another UN Peacekeeping Force in Egypt as his retirement gig.  Through his life’s journey, Bill managed to compete in twenty-one marathons and countless other shorter competitions over 4 decades. Upon retiring from the military, Bill worked with Stinson Security Services.  His final retirement job was at Western University Hospital, London, as Manager of Security and Protective Services.

Bill and Sophia had four children, Richard Buck, wife Barbara Buck (deceased) with three children Tiffany, Melissa and Brandon, daughter Penny (Buck) Fettinger with two children Keith and Jamie, daughter Heather Buck and daughter Patricia (Buck) Wright, husband of The Rev. Canon Dr. Robert Wright and have two sons Benjamin and Sean.

Bill met and remarried Jean MacDonald Buck (deceased) and they lived at Big Bay Point.

Bill’s Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, February 3, 2024, at 1:00 pm, at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, 54 St. Paul’s Crescent, Barrie (Innisfil), L4N 0M2.  An earth burial will be held at a later date.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Paul’s Anglican Church or the Barrie Humane Society.

Online memories and condolences may be shared at www.peacefultransition.ca