Eulogy --- John Franklin “Buck” Purdom, Sr.
There are 200 acres in Western Arkansas near the one-horse town of Charleston where
John Franklin Purdom, Sr. and his younger sister Maybelle roamed as children. At
seventeen years of age, the farm boy headed west and traveled about California’s great
San Fernando Valley picking pears in migrant farm labor. Later, he found work as a
wrangler on a ranch in Springville, CA and soon was the caretaker of the ranch.
Then, in 1942, he was drafted into military service. A member of the 54th Signal
Battalion, First Sergeant Purdom, an airborne glider trooper toured France and Germany
during World War II. He is a survivor of the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war, he returned to his care taking position at the ranch and supplemented his
income as a gas truck driver for Shell Oil Company in Porterville. He then re enlisted for
duty during the Korean Conflict where he served in Japan and France. He was stationed
on the peninsula at Ft. Ord and continued his duties there as a civil servant. He was a
member of the Pistol Team.
He married an instructor at the DLI and John and Thora were blessed with a son, John, Jr.
In 1965, Buck suffered a stroke, which paralyzed his left side. John Jr. reports that this
must have been a frustrating time for him, but his strong, quiet father never complained
and always focused on the positive side of life. His focus turned to business, as he was
the president of the Purdom Leasing and Property Management Co. as well as the Bagel
Basket Restaurant.
His family remembers this farm boy, cowboy, soldier, businessman, family-man as a
solid, sensible outdoorsman who was a personification of Norman Vincent Peale’s
theories on the power of positive thinking. He was the kind of person you could talk to
and many people would find in him a caring soul with a ready ear and a keen ability to
cut to the chase with a problem, because he had a natural understanding of people. Others
would beg him to tell stories of his war experience, but despite the horrible circumstances
he faced, the stories would always be about the beauty of Europe and the kindred spirits
he met there. As Old Hank Sr. would say, “He saw the light”.
He loved Country Music…Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. He loved old west and Civil
War memorabilia.
He is remembered well by his family and some that remember him best would like to
share statements of life, in celebration of the gift of John Franklin Purdom, Sr.
John Jr. (son)
Jim (nephew)
Bill (friend of the family)