Buell F. Weathers

Buell Franklin Weathers, 99, passed away on December 25, 2023, at Providence Hospital in Waco, Texas.

Graveside services will be at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, December 30, at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, with David Stamile officiating. A reception will be held from 1:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. in the Providence Village Community Room.

Buell was born on January 1, 1924, in Hornersville, Missouri, to Grant Virgil Weathers and Dovie Sikes Weathers. He grew up enjoying school and also helping his family in the cotton fields where the work was done by hand and mule teams. After graduating from Wardell High School, he served in the 84th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army during World War II. He started out at North Camp Hood in Texas and then transferred to Division Headquarters where he worked directly under Colonel Louis Truman who was related to President Harry Truman. The division spent time in Holland and Germany. Since his goal was to study law, he returned home after the war and earned an undergraduate degree in 1948 and a law degree in 1950 from the University of Missouri. He practiced with the Mann law firm in Springfield, Missouri, until his retirement in 1997.

He married Jean Eleanor Kay on April 19, 1952, at the First Baptist Church of Springfield, Missouri, where he also served as a deacon and many other positions over the years. He also served as a trustee of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, president of the Greene County Bar Association, president of the Kiwanis Club of Springfield South, and a member of the board of The Arc of the Ozarks. They moved to Waco in 2006 where he joined the First Baptist Church of Woodway and the Kiwanis Club of Waco Seniors.

His hobbies included traveling and reading. They hiked extensively in the various national parks. He voraciously read books about history and legal thrillers. He joked that he bought so many books so that he might live long enough to read all of them.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Jean; a brother, Roy D. Weathers; and his sister Dorothy M. Weathers.

He is survived by his daughter, Barbara K. Weathers of Waco, Texas; son, Dr. Charles W. Weathers of Waco; brother, Doyle M. Weathers and his wife, Peggy of Lakewood, Colorado; brother, Dr. G. Wendell Weathers and his wife, Susan of Sikeston, Missouri; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the Scholarship Fund at Southwest Baptist University, 1600 University Avenue, Bolivar, MO 65613 or the Weathers Endowed Fund for the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97050, Waco, TX 76798-7050. For online gifts at baylor.edu/give, go to Featured and select name of fund. Please note the gift is in memory of Buell Weathers.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory of Buell on his “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com