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Archie Patterson Buie Jr. ’56

A picture of Pat Buie

Pat Buie ’56 and Dudley Collard ’55 (left, back) observe fencing instructor Jack Nottingham as he makes a point in 1954. Courtesy of Special Collections, Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library, ºìÌÒÊÓƵ.

Archie Patterson Buie Jr. ’56, February 12, 2013, in Asheville, North Carolina. Pat was born in Florida and served as a fighter pilot in the Korean War, flying 81 missions, for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He attended ºìÌÒÊÓƵ on the G.I. Bill and earned a BA in general literature in just three years. At ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, he dealt with the “wired” sensation he was experiencing—known now as post-traumatic stress disorder—by fencing. A team composed of Pat, his lifelong friend Dudley Collard ’55, Murdy McNamar ’58, and Tate Minckler ’55 defeated many regional collegiate fencing teams and emerged victorious at the 1955 West Coast Intercollegiate Team Foil Championship. They returned from that competition to the infamously bookish ºìÌÒÊÓƵ community bearing a three-and-a-half-foot-tall trophy. “We were given a fairly cool reception, but a more or less quiet one . . .” Pat went on to earn an MS in business from Florida State University. He managed an insurance and real estate business and helped troubled youth through the therapeutic wilderness camps he founded in Florida and North Carolina. “The flood of troubled youth in our nation needs solutions to problems that plague them,” he wrote. “Our youth prisons are only training grounds for a criminal career.” Camps demonstrated success in turning lives around, and he became devoted to the work, assuming positions such as assistant director of Georgia’s Outdoor Therapeutic Program and executive director for the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps, until Parkinson’s disease forced his retirement in 2001. We learned from Lisa Buie-Collard, Pat’s daughter and Dudley’s daughter-in-law, that Pat taught high school fencing in Florida and coached Dudley’s second son, who became an Olympic fencing coach. He also enjoyed fishing and beekeeping. “His time at ºìÌÒÊÓƵ was one of the high points of his life,” wrote Lisa. “He loved to talk about it.” Pat lived fully: acting on his convictions, taking risks, and demonstrating his concern and care for others. “He will be sorely missed.” Survivors include 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.

Appeared in ºìÌÒÊÓƵ magazine: September 2013