BUCHANAN, Dr. Bonnie Bell

Graveside services for Dr. Bonnie Bell (Butler) Buchanan, 1937 alumna of the Oklahoma College for Women and former faculty member at the University of Science and Arts, are scheduled today, Aug. 9, at 10 a.m. in Taloga.

Bonnie Bell Butler was born October 6, 1916, at Taloga, Okla., to the late Harry Butler and Mable Bell Butler.

In 1983, Buchanan was inducted to the USAO Alumni Hall of Fame.  Her research and teaching had national implications. Her study of the school lunch program led to modifications and changes in the program. She also completed major research in the area of home economics education.

Buchanan and her sisters all graduated from Oklahoma College for Women. She completed a bachelor’s degree in home economics here, her masters from Oklahoma State University in 1942, and her doctorate from the University of Oklahoma in 1959.

Buchanan was a home economics teacher who taught at the elementary and secondary levels. She served on the USAO faculty for 12 years as chairman of the home economics department. In addition, she taught in the graduate program at the University of Arizona.

She served as president of the college and university section for the Oklahoma Home Economics Association, as president of the board of Jane Brooks School for the Deaf in Chickasha. At OCW, Buchanan was a member of Hypatia Academic Society, named Teacher of the Year for the university in 1970 and Outstanding Educator of the Year in 1975 by the Oklahoma Education Association. She was inducted into the Dewey County Historical Society’s Hall of Fame October 1, 2005.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Herman G. “Buck” Buchanan, her parents, one sister, Ola Jones and brothers-in-law, Roger Laubach and Dale Hallmark. Family surviving includes her sisters, Adeline Lauback, Oklahoma City; Margaret Kraettli, Denver, Colorado; Lola Carter, Taloga; Mareen Hallmark, Elk City; her brother Bill Butler, Glendale, California; brother-in-law Carl Kraettli, Denver, Colorado; 13 nieces and nephews and numerous great nieces and nephews.

Services are being conducted by the Shaw Funeral Home in Taloga.