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Retired superintendent Buchanan is dead at 91
By Lynn Hotaling and Carey Phillips
Retired educator Paul Buchanan, who spent 20 years as a principal and superintendent in Jackson County, died Saturday (April 16) at his Rolling Green home after a period of declining health. He was 91.
“I don’t believe there are enough words to tell what I think Paul Buchanan did for Jackson County,” said former Superintendent Earl Hooper. “He was a good person – an extra-good person.”
Hooper, who served as teacher/principal at the old Cashiers School and as assistant superintendent under Buchanan, said the late educator was interested in children and in education.
“His whole focus was on children,” Hooper said of Buchanan. “He wanted students to advance as far as they possibly could.”
According to Hooper, local schools made significant progress during Buchanan’s dozen years (1963-75) as superintendent.
Jackson County Schools were first accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools while Buchanan was in charge, and local schools were peacefully integrated before it became mandatory.
“That shows what leadership ability (Buchanan) had,” Hooper said.
Other advancements that came during Buchanan’s tenure included construction of Fairview (1973) and Blue Ridge (1975); implementation of special education classes both for academically gifted and handicapped students; and the hiring of specially-trained teachers to provide instruction in art, music and physical education.
“I enjoyed working with (Buchanan),” Hooper said. “He had a good sense of humor, he was a hard worker and he was considerate. He had the ability to make a person feel wanted and needed – he was a gentleman in every respect.
Superintendent Sue Nations, whose first year as a teacher was Buchanan’s last as superintendent, echoed Hooper’s assessment of Buchanan’s attributes.
“People talk of Mr. Buchanan as a visionary leader who was always out in the schools,” Nations said Monday. “My ideal is to be as good a superintendent as he was – he was the epitome of a good administrator.”
Two other former superintendents also remember Buchanan.
“He was such a strong leader with such a mild manner,” said Charlie McConnell, who retired as superintendent in 1998. “He was superintendent when I was hired for my first teaching job, and he was the first person I went to when I was considering my first principal’s job.
“Paul Buchanan has been very influential in my life; I just thought the world of him, and I’m sure everybody else did, too,” McConnell said.
Frank Burrell, who like Buchanan served as both a principal at Webster and a Jackson County superintendent, remembers Buchanan as an administrator who remained focused on children and had high expectations for school system employees.
“He was both a visionary and a detail person,” Burrell said. “He could see the big picture, but he also knew enough about schools to pinpoint things you could do differently.”
Burrell said Buchanan became the standard for which all future superintendents are measured.
“He was a great communicator,” Burrell said. “He knew how to deal with people. He could get more done in a very peaceful, quiet way than most of us could get done with a big hoopla.”
Born in Sylva in 1913, Buchanan was the son of Logan and Susan Buchanan. He graduated from the old Sylva Collegiate Institute in 1929 and from Western Carolina Teachers College (now Western Carolina University) in 1934.
Remembered as both an athlete and a scholar, Buchanan played baseball, football and basketball at Western and played and coached tennis. He was also student body president.
Buchanan was inducted into the Jackson County Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.
He began his teaching career at Webster High School (consolidated with Sylva in 1960 to form Sylva-Webster, which was combined with Cullowhee in 1988 to form Smoky Mountain), becoming principal in 1936. Buchanan remained Webster’s principal until 1944 when he was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He served in the Philippines during the final year of World War II and was discharged as a lieutenant in 1946.
Following the war, Buchanan earned a master’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was principal of Yadkin County’s Yadkinville School from 1947 until 1963, when he returned to Jackson County.
Active in Sylva First Baptist Church and a number of civic organizations, Buchanan was named Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 1966 and the Chamber’s Educator of the Year in 1968.
Funeral services were held a 3 p.m. Tuesday (April 19) at First Baptist Church. The Rev. John Bunn gave the eulogy, describing the service as both a joyous and a solemn occasion.
“It’s joyous because of Paul’s victorious Christian life, and it’s sad because we are here to mourn a spiritual giant,” Bunn said.
Other speakers included Burrell, local attorney Jay Coward on behalf of former First Baptist pastor the Rev. Ed Beddingfield, and Bill Wood, one of Buchanan’s grandsons.
Buchanan is survived by his wife, Louise, and daughter, Martha Wood of Waynesville, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son, Robert Paul Buchanan Jr.
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