Tehachapi News

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John Charles Buckley, born on Aug. 17, 1941 in Havre, MT, to Margaret Ann Ellis and George Albert Buckley, went home to God at 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 23, 2008, at his home. He surrounded in love by his children and his loving wife.

Our father lost his battle with cancer after a long and difficult struggle, but instead of remembering the pain we would like to share his love of life with his friends by telling about our husband and father.

As a child, he grew up traveling the country, shearing sheep with his family, and finally settling in Battleground, Wash. He met our mother at a dance and fell in love at first sight, but it took him forever to convince her she was more than just a dance partner. Dad joined the Navy in 1958, and married mom in August of 1960. He became a father for the first time in 1961, to a girl he named Carletta Jean, and again in 1962, again another girl he named Juanetta Core. In 1963, he finally got his boy, John Charles. The stork came again for the last time in 1969, a girl he named Janee Corine. Dad named all of us after him: Carletta, for Charles, Juanetta is Spanish for John, John of course is his own name, and last but not least, Janee is French for John.

In November of 1964, he was honorably discharged from the Navy. He then became a long-haul truck driver, his chosen profession for many years. During the next 20 years he also became a flight instructor, a master Coast Guard certified welder, and a commercial Scuba salvage diver.

In 1991 Dad taught “Machine shop” at the High School in Christmas Valley, Ore., trying to instill more of his passions in another generation.

In 1993 He fulfilled a life long dream by becoming a ship’s captain, holding a coveted Unlimited Tonnage Masters License while working for Edison Chouest Offshore, until 1998.

Mom and dad moved to California in 2000, and Tehachapi in 2004, becoming the caretakers of the Benz-Visco soccer park, a job that both loved and hold still today.
John was a member of the Fraternal Order of Moose, in Vancouver, Wash. A member in good standing of the Teamsters Union, A Merchant Marine, and most important he was a husband, and our father.

John was preceded in death by his father, George Albert Buckley; his mother, Margaret Ann Ellis; his brother, George Albert Buckley, Jr.; both of his grandparents, and his granddaughter, Nicole Harrod.

Surviving him is his wife, Barbara Jean Buckley, of Tehachapi; his sister, Charlene Giles, and his children Carletta Jean Smiley, of Fresno, John Charles Buckley, of Tehachapi, Juanetta Core Radcliff, of Longview Wash., Janee Corine Lee, of Tehachapi, and his beloved grandchildren — all 14 of them — and two great-grandchildren.

The family would prefer in lieu of flowers that donations and remembrances be made at the Bank of Sierra in the name of Barbara Jean Buckley.