Dohn Robert Buchanan

DOHN ROBERT BUCHANAN–1949-2023

Dohn/Robert/Bob/Bobby Buchanan was born October 4, 1949 to Dohn and Mavis Buchanan in Richfield Utah.  Bob passed peacefully to his heavenly home on May 17, 2023 in Chandler, Arizona. He is survived by his two sisters, Joyce Howe (David) and Shauna Bunker.   Bob reported that he had a fairly uneventful childhood (other than moving every year or two with his family), being involved in scouts, playing in the school band (flute and sousaphone), and enjoying school and church activities.  His favorite summertime memories were spent on his grandparent’s farm in Monroe, Utah.  He enjoyed helping his uncles bring in the hay and especially delighted in dismantling any machinery that he could get his hands on and then put it back together in working order.

After high school graduation in 1967, Bob attended Brigham Young University for a year and then served in the Cumorah Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  After returning from his mission and a bit more schooling, Bob decided to try working for a living and landed a job at a lithography company in Tucson, Arizona maintaining photo-typesetting equipment.  He also worked for Hughes Aircraft as an electronics assembler.  In 1974, he began working for IBM in San Jose, California.  Bob soon was given the latitude to work on anything he was willing to tackle.  He reported that he most likely worked on every tool in the manufacturing and testing process.  Bob often said, “It was like a paid hobby.”  In 1977, IBM opened a plant in Tucson, Arizona and Bob was able to transfer to Tucson where his family lived and helped set up the printed circuit card test process.  Bob’s responsibilities at IBM drifted toward software and he became software team leader for a very large sophisticated test system for which Bob was honored with an “Outstanding Technical Achievement Award’.

Bob also patented some of his inventions for IBM.  Solving engineering puzzles at IBM were Bob’s specialty.  Bob was a very successful, inventive electrical engineer with little formal engineering training.  Bob retired from IBM in 2013 and moved to the community of Verde Groves in Mesa, Arizona to be close to his parents and sisters.

Not all of Bob’s pleasures in his life were derived from his work.  He enjoyed a varied assortment of diversions.  His love for bicycling carried through from his youth and he continued biking whenever possible.  His greatest bicycling adventure was a tour from the Grand Canyon to Nogales, Mexico.  He owned 5 specialty bikes at the time of his retirement.  He was also active in amateur radio, hiking, backpacking, motorcycling, and even some scuba diving.  Worth mentioning in motorcycling were two grand tours through the western states and Canada. He was a skilled woodworker, photographer, loved his model trains, any kind of puzzle and enjoyed helping anyone who had any problem with any electronic device.  He also enjoyed traveling with his family.  Bob wrote in his history, “All in all, life has been good.  I have great parents, terrific sisters, and a stimulating career.  Who could ask for more?  Well, maybe if there were just more hours in the day.”  Bob was always a kind and generous man with a great sense of humor and will be missed by his family and friends.

A Celebration of Bob’s life will be held on Wednesday, May 24, at 6:00 p.m.  at Bunker Mortuary University Chapel, 3529 E. University Drive, Mesa, AZ 85213.   His interment will be in the Glenwood, Utah cemetery next to his parents.

Arrangements by Bunker’s University Chapel, www.bunkerfuneral.com. Should this obituary appear anywhere but bunkerfuneral.com, please check our website for accurate details and service information.