Malcolm Vail Buchanan, or Uncle Mac to me, was born on Dec. 21, 1921 and just recently passed away on Monday, Feb. 7, 2005. I thought it was important to share this information with you because of his years as a past teacher and principal.
Mac taught at Brownville Junction High School, Brownville Junction, Maine for many years. He started teaching in 1949 where he taught science, chemistry, American History, and algebra. While teaching, he was also a remarkable coach at baseball and basketball. In 1957 he became a teaching principal, which he continued until 1968 when the school closed. He was then the first principal at Penquis Valley High School, in Milo Maine, where he retired in 1984, Mac was respected by both students and teachers and will never be forgotten within the schools.
Mac also served in WWII. He was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force right after High School. His training began in 1942, where he was then stationed throughout Europe from 1944 to 1945. He was honorably discharged, and returned home on Nov. 4, 1945.
Once returning home from the war, Mac married his high school sweetheart and had two children. His wife Lucille predeceased him in 1985 after a long illness. In later years he married my aunt. Lisa Cyr Buchanan, who gave my family and me someone to look up to and treasure. Whenever you were with him you could never help but smile at his jokes, and unfinished songs. He was kind, humorous, and extremely loving and caring. He was a perfect example of a true gentleman. One thing I do have to point out though, was his “thumb trick.” His thumb trick was where he would make his thumb look like it was being cut in two. It was his mark and his way to lighten any mood. Mac was brought into my younger cousin’s lives, my brothers, and mine and then taken away too quickly. Though he did get to spend his life to the full capacity with his 1st and then 2nd wife, his children, grandchildren and the other people whose lives he touched, he was still taken away to soon.
Uncle Mac was a part of everyone’s life whom he met and will be remembered and sorely missed. I will also certainly miss him, for he was one of a kind. He is the only Uncle Mac you could ever have or ever want to have and I and everyone else will always love him.
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