The Osbourn High School Alumni Association honored Lawrence “Buck” Buchanan, 96, during a banquet on Saturday, October 22.
Community members gathered with graduates from Osbourn High, the only high school in Manassas, at the Prince William County Fairgrounds, for its alum of the year dinner.
Though he was never allowed to attend Osbourn High School, Buchanan joins 40 other distinguished graduates whom the alum association has recognized since 1980. During his life, Buchanan watched Manassas grow from a town in Prince William County into an independent city and served on multiple councils and committees.
He attended the now-defunct Manassas Regional School, and is the first to be honored by the alum association, which has accepted all graduates from the school into the group.
Buchanan grew up on the other side of the train tracks when there was such a thing in Manassas. According to the Alumni Association, Buchanan was born in 1926 and lived in a house at the corner of Prince William Street and Wellington Road.
He attended the Brown School for black children, the second of its kind in the county after the Lucasville School just outside Manassas. Later, Buchanan attended the Manassas Regional School for blacks, founded by Jennie Dean, founder of the Prince William Industrial School that stood on the site where Dean’s statue stands today, next to the elementary school bearing her name.
Segregation was the rule in Prince William County until schools were integrated in 1964.
Twenty years earlier, Buchanan joined the Navy and served two tours. He later went to school to become a locksmith and used his GI Bill to pay for his education.
“If you locked yourself out, he would be right there to help you. He helped many poeple who were in need in any shape or form,” states a proclamation read aloud at Saturday night’s dinner.
Buchanan retired from the U.S. Post Office. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Triangle, coached youth in a segregated baseball league, and attended First Baptist Church.
Founded in 1906, The Osbourn High School Alumni Association is the oldest of its kind in Virginia. It has awarded over $114,000 in scholarships and maintains a community of former students and graduates.
The group supports the teachers, clubs, athletics, and administration and the many programs needed to help provide our students with the best possible education experience.
