John L. Buckley Jr.

Portsmouth, NH - At 93 years young, John “Jack” L. Buckley, Jr. departed us last week to join his wife of 63 years, Andrée Wagner Buckley, in the hereafter. Jack leaves behind six children: Mark, Brian and wife Glenda, Drew and wife Sarah, Andrée and partner Tom, Keith and wife Cristin, and Michelle; his four grandchildren Jonathan, Faith, Michael, and Courtney; his sister, Peggy Ohana; and nieces and nephews around the world. “I’m an old Marine…” Jack often declared as either a defense or a proclamation, and he was. At the age of 15, Jack joined the Merchant Marines during WWII and served as a midshipman on the USS Lackawanna in the South Pacific and the Isle of Ulithi. While the US Government doesn’t recognize the U.S. Merchant Marines as part of the armed services, merchant marines who served during WWII have recently been honored by the Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act that bestows “veteran” to nearly a quarter million mariners who served during WWII. Jack is one of those veterans. As a devout Catholic, Jack attended Xavier Jesuit High School in New York and never missed a Sunday mass. At one point, Jack even considered joining the monastery. When Jack asked his lifelong friend, WWII veteran and U.S. Marine Corps pilot, Robert Kierney, to come along for the ride to visit a monastery in the Carolinas, Bob agreed. On that road trip, Bob talked Jack into enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps, which he did in the 1950s. Subsequently, Bob left the Corps and became a Benedictine monk, Brother Robert, who passed away just over a year ago himself. Jack was a tried and true New Yorker, and Irish to the core. His grandparents came to America from County Kerry, Ireland in the late 1800s. On St. Paddy’s day, he would routinely march his children upstairs if they dared to come down without wearing the green. Like his father before him, Tammany Hall district leader in the New York State Assembly, John L. Buckley, Sr., Jack studied law. After graduating from Union College, Jack worked at the New York Union News during the day while attending the New York School of Law at night. During his career, Jack led the labor relations department for Wheaton Glass Company in New Jersey. He then served as Equal Employment Officer for the US Postal Service in Washington, D.C., and in Philadelphia, PA. Jack held executive postmaster positions in Western New York as well as in Manchester and Bedford, New Hampshire. Jack was an avid reader who enjoyed sharing his love of the classics. Among his favorite books he read annually were the Greek classics Iliad and Odyssey. For anyone who showed the slightest interest in Homer, Jack handed them one of his well-worn copies as a gift of reading. The Bible was also always close by, and of course, he looked forward to almost completing the New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday, and sometimes he did. He loved to read and write poetry while listening to classical music, and was a weather fanatic who thought lightning storms were far more interesting to watch than any program you could see on TV. He was a collector of bird books, paintings, quillings, and carved birds of all species and sizes, particularly geese and ducks, and kept a grand collection of hats for all occasions. Jack had a wry sense of humor that we’re going to miss; he liked to tell a joke or two to get either a smile or a rise out of you. Jack retired in Francestown, New Hampshire, and later moved to West Newbury, Massachusetts, to be closer to his children when his wife became ill. He spent his last months in Portsmouth, NH, and we thank the staff at the Edgewood Centre for their love and care. He never fully recovered from losing Andrée nine months earlier, and we are blessed that he is with her now. A favorite past time of Jack’s was to listen to his music sitting by his frog pond alongside his son’s border terrier, Molly. On Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019, Jack will be laid to rest near a small pond beneath a Japanese maple tree, with his wife Andrée close by. Molly is buried there as well. The brothers of Weston Priory will celebrate Jack’s life in a memorial Eucharist at their Priory in Vermont. In lieu of flowers, please give to your favorite charity.

John L. Buckley Jr.

August 30, 1926 - December 6, 2019