Some people make the world a nicer place just by being
in it. They spread their optimism and joy of living
with a smile, with random acts of kindness; small
wonders that spread like a soothing balm across lives
frazzled by fast-pace living or marked by trials.
Such is Annie Buchanan, a face many across Carroll
County will recognize as the same one that greets them
at Huntingdon's Wal-Mart. She adds new meaning to the
job title "greeter", welcoming customers with a ready
smile, a helping hand and a new twist to customary
phrases.
"Welcome to Wal-Mart," she'll say congenially, and,
offered any nicety, will reply with something like,
"Thank you, baby," in a voice as rich and sweet as
honey and a smile that brightens the dimmest day.
But Annie's own days haven't always been bright, nor
her soul as cheery. It's her faith in God and the
not-so-simple act of forgiveness that have enabled her
to share her joy.
Now 69 years old, she was born in Gibson on May 4,
1935, and moved with her family to McKenzie when she,
at five years old, was the oldest of seven children.
In McKenzie, her sisters are Lottie Brown and Ora
Sneed. Her third sister, Jeanett Hartfield, lives in
Paris and her brothers Robert, Burnett, and John Paul
are scattered from Gallatin, just north of Nashville,
to Georgia and Racine, Wisconsin.
Her mother's home once sat where her own new home sits
today on Park Cove: It was Everett Road when she was
growing up. The house may be recompense for her good
nature and positive outlook, as it constructed as part
of a grant that refurbishes or rebuilds homes in
impoverished neighborhoods.
Without a doubt, Annie has worked long and hard over
many years, from an early age working in the cotton
and strawberry fields when school let out twice a year
- six weeks in the fall and then during the summer -
for children to help bring in the harvest and start
new crops.
"I thought 12 o'clock was never going to get there!"
she says, recalling hot days in the fields. Adults and
children alike worked from seven 'til noon and then
after lunch until five. Before and after those hours,
it fell to Annie to care for her younger brothers and
sisters, since her mother, Eddie Mae Horton, started
even earlier at her two jobs as a domestic in the
Everett household and at a boarding house on Magnolia
Street.
"I thank God I got through it," she declares.
She remembers school as good if somewhat difficult in
the early years.
"That was one of my mother's dreams, for us to finish
high school. She always emphasized for us to finish
school," says Annie, the first in her family to
graduate, followed by five of her siblings. "My baby
brother's head got hard and he just stopped," she
explains.
She played basketball at Webb High School, then the
only high school in the county for black teens. After
school, she worked as a maid for James and Geneva
McDonald: "I had two or three different jobs where I'd
go and clean," she says of the times after school when
she wasn't picking cotton.
Church was another important part of her childhood.
"You couldn't live in McKenzie - not in my mother's
house! - without going to Johnson Temple," remarks
Annie of the church where she is again active after
returning to her hometown from Wisconsin some five or
six years ago.
She remembers a special Sunday treat when "Mr.
Crider", who worked at the ice house in McKenzie,
would provide the children with little cups of ice on
the way to Bible classes.
She married Earl Pate in 1954 and on January 2, 1956
gave birth to son Ronald Earl before the marriage
ended in December the same year. She worked for
Universal Life Insurance for the next four years
before following friends to Chicago in 1960, where she
worked at Illinois Bell.
At a friend's family reunion in Detroit a decade
later, she met Joe Buchanan, a native of Nashville who
was also visiting family in the city. She turned down
his offer of dinner that evening but met him for
breakfast the following morning. When Buchanan
returned to Racine, where he had moved, and Annie went
back to Chicago, the two kept in touch.
"Within two years we were married," smiles Annie,
whose second son Terrance Roy was then four years old.
The family moved to Racine where Joe worked as
assistant personnel manager of Racine County and for
the NAACP. "He did a lot of traveling," she says.
She was still living in Racine in 1999 when, she
somberly recalls, within six months "three of my best
earthly friends went on." Her mother died on June 17,
followed by her aunt, who lived in Indianapolis, on
September 28. She lost her husband on December 23.
"But God is good," she hastens to add, "I never will
forget it..." It was the first Sunday in September
when the church choir was singing "What a friend we
have in Jesus."
"The Holy Spirit got all over me, I just couldn't be
still," she says. "God was letting me know, 'I'm your
friend.' He was preparing me for what was going to be
and I know He provides. He provides."
In an effort at sharing God's goodness, Annie looked
up in the dictionary the meaning to every word in the
song. "I've done shared that so much," she says, "When
we sing something sometimes we don't always know what
we're singing."
Known sometimes as "the hat lady" for her enjoyment of
millinery, she points out they're not religiously
inspired. Perhaps they are more a symbol of her
exuberant personality.
She decided to come home to McKenzie the latter part
of 2000 when times got harder in Racine. Her
employment had ended when the plant where she worked
closed down in October 1997 and income from subsequent
work was insufficient to her needs. "I prayed about it
and waited, prayed and waited. Then I came back and
got a new home. Everything happens for a reason," she
says regarding her decision to come home. ""I'm just
thankful and grateful."
She had been back in McKenzie a year and a half, doing
some volunteer and church work, when she decided to
apply for a job at Huntingdon's new Super Wal-Mart.
Her employment began on February 14, 2002.
"I'd always been busy and active," she explains. "I
needed something to do to get out of the house; I
guess I'm just used to working and being busy. Just
sitting around wasn't helping me any. So I was blessed
to get a job at Wal-Mart; I really thank God for that.
I meet people; I've made some nice friends. I'm out of
the house five days a week and I enjoy it."
At Johnson Temple C.M.E. (Christian Methodist
Episcopal) Church she is Sunday School supervisor as
well as missionary president. "And sometimes I teach,"
says Annie, who also enjoys sharing with the youth of
the church.
Concerning her positive attitude and sweet demeanor,
she says modestly that because of her own blessings
she "tries to be nice to everyone."
"God changed my life," she says, recounting the
hardships of her childhood. "The Lord just changed me
and I look at things different."
Aside from Wal-Mart, she still performs in a domestic
capacity for families that include James McDonald, who
she first worked for in her youth. She has two
grandchildren: 13-year-old Diamond Roy, who lives in
Racine, and Zach Roy from McKenzie who will be two in
August.
Says Annie, "I thank God for all my friends and family
and all the nice friends I've met."
