Obit: Buker, Orlando Chester #3 (1900 - 1942)

Contact: betty@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Buker, Rogillio

----Source: Scrapbook of Bertha and Caroline (Wehrmann) Volk 1930-1950’s

Buker, Orlando Chester #3 (26 OCT 1900 - 17 JUL1942)

“RUG” BUKER DIES, BUT HE CATCHES BIG ONE FIRST
Finally Takes German Brown In Creel Before Heart Attack Comes-By Louis Keiner

GREENWOOD-Orlando “Rug” Buker 41, widely known sportsman, finished one job before he died late last Friday night.

All this season he had been trying to lure a large, wily German Brown Trout to his home-made bait. Several times he almost had it; then with a powerful swish of his tail, the trout would whirl and swim away.
But this was Rug’s night. The prize German Brown lay in his creel with a nice mess of smaller trout. It was a bearty—21 inches long, as nice a fish as had come out of Wood Creek, near Medford.
It was about 11 p.m. when he called it a day and returned to his car. There he stopped and passed the time of the evening with two stranger fishermen and showed them the Berman Brown beauty and the rest of his catch.
He walked on to his car and started to drive away. Then his heart started acting up, as it had done off and on over the last two years. He drove a few feet, stopped the car. Then he called to the two strangers.
“I think I’m going to faint,” he told them.

Almost immediately as he said those words he was seized by a heart attack, slumped and lost consciousness.

Fishing was Rug’s great sport and he had helped to make it a sport for many other men of this area. Today one might see a card of flies with the familiar “Rug” marking in almost any store that sells sporting goods.
The two strangers called the Taylor County sheriff, who took the body in to Medford. A.C. Buker, cashier of the local bank and brother of Rug went after the body with Tony Schiller.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Buker, he was born in Greenwood October 26, 1900. He attended the Greenwood public schools and was graduated from the high school in 1919. During the next year he attended Central State Teachers College at Stevens Point, and after that followed the musical profession for 15 years.

Mr. Buker and Mary Ann Rogillio were united in marriage on August 16, 1932. Three children were born to this union; Edward, nine; Donna Mae, seven; and John Scott, five months.

In 1938 he opened the Coast-to-Coast in Greenwood, which he has managed since.

Surviving besides his widow and three children are his father, Edward Buker, and his brother, A.C. Buker. His mother preceded him in death.

Funeral services were held Monday afternoon from his brother’s home with the Rev. P.H. Franzmeier, pastor of the West Side Reformed Church, in charge. Burial was made in the Greenwood Cemetery.
During the service Mrs. Louise Behrens and Mrs. Herbert Schwarze sang to piano accompaniment by Miss Mabel Bishop.

The pallbearers were: James Metcalf, Don Warner, Merrilll Hare, Harry Liebzeit and H.R. Baird of Greenwood, and Gale Hiles of Neillsville.