Memorial Tributes for Anne Buckingham
August 30, 2015
Compiled by Susy Robison
Dee Stein: Anne was a committed member of the
Casserole Brigade. She always had a meal prepared to be delivered to anyone
with an illness or just home from the hospital with a new baby or recovering
from surgery, or the bereaved, and, when I say a meal, I mean salad, entrée,
often salmon, and a tasty dessert. Anne always said that “presentation is important." Her care packages were displayed beautifully. Her food was
always "high class and very yummy.”
In addition to occasionally delivering a meal herself, she’d also leave a casserole in the fridge at the church for another member of
the team to deliver in an emergency.
Dee is also grateful for the interest and took in her daughter, Emily and her rowing.
Susy Robison:
On a personal note, on more than one occasion, Anne dropped off a meal at the Rectory when I was ill . . . .
During the 20 years Anne
taught at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church Nursery School, she had a number of
students who also went to Calvary with her. I understand that even during a
Baptism it was not uncommon for one of children to burst out in happy surprise,
"Hey, Mrs. Buckingham!"
With her husband Bev and
later on her own, Anne traveled all over the world. She was particularly fond
of her sister-in-law, Blanche, and enjoyed travelling with her.
I believe one of
their last adventures was to Egypt and Israel. (The shawl I'm wearing now was a gift she brought from that trip.) She loved sharing stories and pictures with friends.
When Anne was struggling though
her last illness, her friends, Joanne Luchsinger and Julie, took her on one of the
Pittsburgh house tours. While she was struggling in and out of the various houses
still challenged with the vertigo that troubled her, she told them about the
best barbeque in Pittsburgh and convinced them to drive to Homewood and pick
some up. Then, they brought it back to her house where they enjoyed it with the
corn bread she had made using Blanche’s Old Southern recipe.
I had known about Anne’s deep
fondness for her cat, Sunny, and was finally introduced to this large, orange
beauty one day when I stopped by. The cat was just recovering from an emergency
surgery. The vet had removed a mass from her stomach that turned out to be a
lot of string secured somehow by a rubber band. Anne found this particular
challenge to be extremely funny. As I was preparing to leave she asked me to
look at the sculptures in the garden and we stood and talked about them. I have
since learned that her daughter, Anne, first told her parents about the
sculptor and Anne and Bev went off to purchase them.
When I spoke to Jinny
Fiske our “Hospitality Queen” and with her successor Emma Mosely the leader of our Shelter Meal team, , she told me about the many times Anne used to
come to the church kitchen to help. Anne would assist with the preparations for
church receptions00and with the meals the team would deliver to the men in the
homeless shelter in East Liberty.
Jinny said that Anne was committed to showing
up for the shelter meal and loved to make the salad. She’d take over a corner
of the kitchen and always preferred to do the washing and chopping by herself.
Then, if she was needed, she’d go with the team to deliver and serve the meal
to the men.
I think all of us in the
St Andrew’s Sunday morning Bible Study would agree that Anne brought a
well-travelled and well-read quiet elegance to our group. Shortly after she
settled into services here, Anne joined us most Sunday mornings in the Parlor
of the old rectory as we explored the New Testament together.
Her
illustrations and questions arose from both our study and from hers, and
her passion for learning took her to do research on the internet and to Osher
classes at the university. Then, she’d bring us handouts on points of doctrine,
faith, and Christian experience to spice up our studies.
Because of the
construction project last year here in the church, the Children's Nursery moved into the Parlor and the Bible Study moved upstairs and Anne would continue to come with
Joanne until it was too difficult to maneuver the stairs.
We miss her wry sense
of humor and no nonsense talk and called her on the speaker phone from our
meeting after one of her hospital visits..
When Joanne drove to
Somerset to pick up her adorable, mini-dachshunds, Anne rode along. She read
from the book she had given to Joanne for Christmas, Father Thomas Keating’s
book, “Open Mind, Open Heart” about Centering Prayer. Although Anne got to the point where it was
hard for her to go out, she continued to meet with Joanne at the Biddles café.
They would sit outside on the deck with the little dogs and talk about the
books they were both reading while they sipped tea.
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