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- ERWIN — Mrs. Hazel "Fern" McGuire Buchanan, born October 12, 1905, went home to be with her Savior Wednesday morning, January 9, 2008.
Fern was born and raised in the Beech Mountain Community of Watauga County, North Carolina. The daughter of George W. McGuire and Alice Trivette McGuire; and the granddaughter of George W. McGuire Sr. and Salley Greer.
Fern married the late Stokes Buchanan in December of 1924 and later moved from Plum Tree, North Carolina, to Elizabethton in 1926. Fern and Stokes moved to Hampton in 1937, later buying the Quality Market in Hampton that Fern operated until they sold the store in 1960. Fern, a devoted wife, traveled with her husband Stokes in his profession as a Construction Electrician, living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, New York City and Frederick, Maryland.
Fern was a Christian woman and active as a leader in her church, Calvary Baptist Church of Elizabethton, Hampton Baptist and First Baptist Church of Erwin, serving as Sunday School teacher, President of the W.M.U. and Sunday School Superintendent.
Fern was also a past member of the Hampton Garden Club and a past officer and past president of the Erwin Women's Club, and an active member in P.T.A. when her children were in school. She was one of the founding members of the Unicoi County Heritage Museum.
Miss Fern as her friends called her was a avid quilter. Her quilts have been shown nationwide. Fern was honored for her work in quilting by piecing and quilting the Unicoi Square in the Tennessee Bi-Centennial quilt that is on display in Nashville. Her sewing skills resulted in her working at J.C. Penney in Elizabethton in the mid 1920s, later at Gimbels in New York City, and at Dosser's in Johnson City.
Fern in her 102 years touched the lives of many people with her Christian faith and outgoing personality.
She was preceded in death by her parents; and her husband, Stokes Buchanan; along with an infant daughter, Alice Maxine Buchanan; brothers, Frank, Charlie, Roy, Jennings and Hurst McGuire; seven sisters Myra Trivette, Sarah Jones, Ida Ramsey, Frances McGuire, Vana Trivette, Erilene Church and Oda Jones.
Survivors include one son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Madge Buchanan, Erwin; one daughter, Phyllis Pinkerton, Kingsport; one sister, Blanch Harmon, Valdese, North Carolina; five grandchildren, Sam Pinkerton and wife, Chris Tipton, Erwin, Suzanne Cloninger and Daniel Malone, Kingsport, Sandra Thurmond and husband, Dave, Durham, North Carolina, Becky Buchanan and husband, John Simpkins, Washington D.C., Crystal and Matt Atkinson, Manassas, Virginia; three great grandchildren; four great-great grandchildren; along with a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Funeral service for Mrs. Buchanan will be held at 2:00 P.M. Saturday from the First Baptist Church, 200 Love Street, Erwin. Reverend Tony Rutherford will officiate. Music will be provided by Inez Chandler. Committal service will follow in Evergreen Cemetery. Deacons of First Baptist Church will serve as active pallbearers. Nephews will serve as honorary pallbearers.
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1905 - 2008 (102 years)
