William Buck of Buck Ice & Coal dies at 90
William Calmese Buck was more than just the ice man who kept the family business Buck Ice & Coal cranking out a product “never touched by human hands.”
He was a combat veteran, an aviator, a historian, a photographer and an adventurer whose curiosity never waned nor was restrained by unfamiliar surroundings.
“If you’re going someplace, act like you belong there,” his son William “Bill” Buck Jr. recalled his father saying.
The elder Buck’s final departure came Thursday when he died at age 90 at his home, leaving behind his wife of 58 years, Erie Sue Bloodworth Buck, sons William Calmese Buck Jr. and John Bloodworth Buck, and sister Jane Buck, the last of seven siblings.
His graveside service will be 10 a.m. Monday at the family plot in Columbus’ Riverdale Cemetery, followed by an 11 a.m. memorial service at First Baptist Church.
Born March 21, 1925, in a family home on Talbotton Road behind the Buck Grocery Company, he was the fifth child of Thomas Bryant Buck Sr. & Helen Merimeth Dodd Buck.
He went to Wynnton School and then to Columbus High, where he graduated in 1942. He had finished his freshman year at The Citadel when he was summoned to service in World War II.
He carried a mortar with the “Timberwolves,” the 104th Infantry Division, serving in combat in France, the Netherlands and Germany. He was at the “Battle of the Bulge” and the capture of Cologne. As the war in Europe drew to an end, he was assigned to San Luis Obispo, Calif., to prepare to invade Japan before it surrendered.
After the Army, he came home to catch up on his education, first attending summer school at Sewanee before switching to Georgia Tech, where he graduated with a degree in industrial management in 1949, a year after his father died.
He returned to Columbus to run the family ice business. Besides president of Buck Ice & Coal Co., he also served as a president of the Georgia Ice Manufacturers Association and a secretary-treasurer and Hall of Fame member of the Southern Ice Exchange.
But the ice business was not his only interest.
He had learned to fly before the war, and kept at it. He flew the family to Colorado and Canada and the Bahamas. He flew to Belize on a mission trip for Columbus’ First Baptist Church. Though he was not entirely fluent in foreign languages, he could get by and wasn’t shy about giving them a try; the Latin he took at Columbus High helped.
“He always enjoyed other people,” his son said, recalling his father would talk to anyone. He could recall bits of local history that had faded from others’ memory. When he met a younger Columbus native, he sometimes could recall obscure details about the person’s family origins.
His keen interest in local history was reflected in his support for Westville, the 19th century living-history village in Lumpkin, Ga.
Though he played no instrument, he attended what at the time was Columbus’ Chase Conservatory of Music, the son said: “He was always interested in music.”
And in photography: “He took pictures everywhere he went,” his son said. Among the memories he has left behind are “boxes and boxes” of photographs the family will sift through, Bill Buck said.
The father was among those on the first “Honor Flight” of World War II veterans from Columbus to the war memorial in Washington, D.C. He also was among the longest serving members of the downtown Rotary Club 200, and attended the civic club’s regular weekly meeting the day before he died.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to First Baptist Church of Columbus, the Stewart Community Home, the Georgia Tech Foundation, The Citadel Foundation, Historic Westville or another charity of the donor’s choice.
This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 4:05 PM with the headline "William Buck of Buck Ice & Coal dies at 90."