Glynn Dell Buie, 92, died peacefully at his home in Georgetown, Texas on Friday, September 1, 2023, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Born in Gilmer, Texas, on January 8, 1931, Glynn was the son of Blanche Moore Buie and Sidney Tolbert Buie. He grew up working on his parents’ farm, operating a hay rake, penning cattle, harvesting watermelons, and taking cotton to the gin at Ashland on a mule-drawn wagon. Glynn’s first paying job was working on Saturdays at his Uncle Buck’s dry goods store. He sold everything from overalls to shoes to shotgun shells and was paid fifty cents a day.
Glynn graduated from Gilmer High School in 1948 and attended Texas A&M University for two years, followed by a summer semester at Kilgore Junior College. He transferred to the University of Texas in 1950 and graduated in 1952 with a B.A. in Government.
In the summer of 1950, Glynn met the love of his life, Dora Dean Crow, in biology class at Kilgore Junior College. They married on December 22, 1951 and drove to Austin immediately after the service, running out of gas in Hearn on their way. They coasted into a Sinclair gas station, resumed their journey, and set up housekeeping in an apartment in Deep Eddy.
After graduating from the University of Texas in 1952, Glynn attended UT Law School for two years and was a member of the Air Force ROTC. In 1953, he and Dora Dean welcomed their first child, Phillip Glynn.
In 1954, Glynn received an ROTC commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force. The young family moved to a remote Air Force Station at Curlew, Washington, where Glynn greatly enjoyed his work as an Aircraft Controller and a Squadron Adjutant. He received an honorable discharge in 1956 and achieved the rank of Captain after serving in the Air Force Reserve for several years. After Glynn’s discharge from the Air Force, the family moved to Houston, and Glynn and Dora Dean’s second child, Beverly Ann, was born there in 1956.
Glynn began work as a Petroleum Landman for Texaco in 1956. After four years in that position, he resigned and embarked on his lifelong career as an Independent Landman. He found great satisfaction in his interactions with landowners and his collaboration with geologists and other colleagues as they put together oil and gas deals. Glynn participated in a significant oil discovery in the South Cleveland Field. In 1966, Glynn and Dora Dean’s second son, Alan Matthew, was born in Houston.
Aviation was a passion for Glynn from the time he was a teenager. In the mid-1960s, he achieved a lifelong dream of earning his pilot’s license. He owned a Cessna aircraft, followed by two different Beechcraft Bonanzas, and thoroughly enjoyed flying for business and for pleasure.
In 1974, Glynn and Dora Dean purchased a ranch in Georgetown, Texas, that was to become their home for fifty years. The property became the focus of Glynn’s energies as he pursued ranching, including raising hay, keeping goats and cattle, planting fruit trees, and growing a bountiful vegetable garden every year.
From boyhood, Glynn loved the outdoors, and he was an avid hunter and fisherman. Glynn enjoyed deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, bass fishing in Texas lakes, and fly fishing for trout in Colorado and Montana. One year he caught a silver salmon from a remote river on Kodiak Island that placed second in that year’s Silver Salmon Derby. Glynn hunted ducks, doves, and quail all over Texas, and pheasant in South Dakota. He successfully pursued elk and mule deer in Colorado and Wyoming, pronghorn in New Mexico, and a Dall ram in Alaska.
In addition to Dora Dean, his beloved wife of 71 years, Glynn is survived by his children, Beverly Buie Smith and Alan Matthew Buie (Rachel). He is also survived by three grandchildren, Hannah Elizabeth Smith, Zachary Taylor Smith (Erin), and Austin Matthew Smith (Sonya), and great-grandson, Townes Alexander Smith, son of Zachary and Erin. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Nelta Ruth Buie Ray, and his son Phillip Glynn Buie.
The family is grateful for the friendship and service of Manuel Guerrero, Priscilla Jones, and Oralia Padilla, who for more than fifteen years have helped Glynn and Dora Dean continue living independently in their home. Additionally, Cheryl Lockburner and her staff at The HelpGivers cared for Glynn and Dora Dean with kindness and compassion for the last three years.
A time of visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 7, 2023, at Ramsey Funeral Home in Georgetown. A graveside service is planned for 11:00 am on Saturday, September 9, 2023, at the Ashland Cemetery in Diana, Texas.
In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial gifts may be directed to Harbor Christian Academy (https://www.harborchristianacademy.org/hca-giving) or to the charity of one’s choice.