Joseph Grady Buckner

Joseph Grady Buckner, 88, passed away on July 2, 2023 at his home in Asheville, NC. Joe was born in Asheville on June 3, 1935, the son of Herbert Dennis Buckner, Sr and Anna Leah Hendrix Buckner. After graduating from Lee-Edwards High School, Joe attended Mars Hill College then was drafted into the US Army where he served two years in Germany before being honorably discharged.

On August 13, 1960, Joe married Patricia Ann Payne, whom he had met at Mars Hill College. They moved to Knoxville, TN, where Joe studied civil engineering. After receiving his Engineering degree from the University of Tennessee—where he remained a true Tennessee Volunteers fan—Joe and Pat moved to Asheville where they raised their two children and where Joe worked for over thirty years as a Civil Engineer with the NCDOT, twenty of those years with District 13. One of the highlights of his career was working on the blasting of Beaucatcher Mountain to create what is now I-240.

Joe was an active member of Acton United Methodist Church. He and Pat loved to travel with their two children every summer to Lake Gaston and to Jekyll Island, where they spent time with family. In his later years, Joe and Pat loved to travel to Hilton Head Island to spend time with Pat’s father.

Joe was preceded in death by his parents, Herbert and Anna; his sister Margaret Fisher; his brother Herbert Dennis Buckner; and his nephew Thomas Fisher. He is survived by his wife of sixty-three years, Patricia Ann Payne Buckner, and by their two children: Kenneth W. Buckner of Cary, NC and his wife Carol H. Buckner; and Jodi M. Buckner of Greensboro, NC.

Joe is also survived by his two grandchildren: Stephen Buckner and Mary Buckner of Cary, NC. He is also survived by his two sisters-in-law: Judy Taylor (and husband Thomas Turner) of Hampstead, NC; and Cathryn Turner of Cary, NC; as well as by many beloved nephews and nieces and their children.

Funeral services will be held at 12 noon Saturday, July 8, 2023 in the chapel of Anders-Rice Funeral Home (1428 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28806). Burial will follow at Green Hills Cemetery with Military Honors provided by the U.S. Army. The family will receive friends from 11am-12noon Saturday at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made either to the Alzheimer’s Association, to the Dementia Society of America, to the American Cancer Society, St. Jude’s Hospital, to the University of Tennessee Civil Engineering Department, or to the charity of your choice.