Stephen Ferguson Buchanan, 92, Oakland, Calif., passed away on Oct. 14, 2019, at House of Psalms in Oakland. He was born on March 27, 1927, in Indianapolis. He attended public schools until high school, when he attended and graduated from Culver Military Academy in 1945. He then served in the Merchant Marine until1947.

Starting early in his life, he spent summers at the family cottage on Lake Tippecanoe, where he spent the happiest hours of his life. He attended college at Case University in Cleveland, ultimately graduating from Columbia University in New York in 1951. He then served in the Marine Corps until 1953.

Married in 1951, he moved to Oakland, Calif. when he left the Marine Corps and then moved to Castro Valley, Calif. in 1954. He worked at Lawrence Radiation Lab in Livermore from 1954 to 1965. He was divorced in 1966. Thereafter he lived mostly on Lake Tippecanoe in Indiana until 2010, working as a substitute teacher in middle schools and high schools in Kosciusko County in the 1990s (where he was known for his characteristic bow tie) and later at Lake City Bank mail room from 2005 to 2010.

Mr. Buchanan moved back to Oakland, CA for the final decade of his life in 2010, living most of that time in the apartment building that his son Timothy managed on Bellevue Ave.

He is survived by his ex-wife, Anne, and three of his children:  David, Timothy and Susan (all of California), as well as by four grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life for Stephen Buchanan will be at 1 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 24, at the New Salem Church of the Brethren in Milford