Little Park ready for Danny Buck

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

FAMILY AND friends of former government minister Donald Buchanan spent yesterday preparing the place in the family plot in Little Park, St Elizabeth, where he is to be buried.

Buchanan, who died on Monday after battling colon cancer, had requested that he be buried at the feet of his father, Luther, and by Thursday, family members had started preparing the final resting place of the man known fondly as 'Danny Buck'.

His younger brother, Bill, was among those at the family plot sharing laughter and memories of the man.

"He was a hell of a brother, and one of the things I remember most is that even from the age of 11, he used to memorise speeches of Norman Manley that he got from The Gleaner, and he would .... be using us as guinea pigs and repeating the speeches," said Bill.

"When he had the speeches of other politicians, he would do the same, but in those days, Norman Manley was who he was modelling himself after," Bill added.

He said Danny Buck was always determined to be a politician and even before he reached his teen years, friends and neighbours called him "The Politician".

"As a 10- or 12-year-old, he was preaching politics. He spoke about Marcus Garvey, he spoke about Norman Manley, he spoke about the struggles of the 1930s. He was a politician and he remained a politician."

Bill said the man who was to hold several positions in the People's National Party (PNP) was always good at making friends and making people feel comfortable.

"Through his life he related well with everyone - the young, the old, the rich, the poor."

Impressed Norman Manley

According to Bill, Danny Buck first took to the political stage at a PNP rally when he was about 15 years old, and his presentation that night impressed Norman Manley.

"From that speech, the PNP leadership started to take him around with them, and when he was at Excelsior High, he missed some school because he had to attend every party conference and rally," added Bill, who followed Danny by two years.

He noted that Danny Buck would join his mother, father, and two brothers who are buried in the family plot a few metres from the house where they grew up.

The funeral service for Buchanan will take place next Friday, January 21, at the St Peter's Anglican Church in Pedro Plains, St Elizabeth.