Once Anita E. Buck found her love of history, it caught on big, inspiring a passion for chronicling the St. Croix River Valley's rich past.
She did that by writing books and newspaper columns, painting watercolors and volunteering for preservation efforts such as the drive to save the fabled Historic Courthouse in Stillwater.
"She was a very good historian, a good editor, and accurate. You would trust her to do things correctly," said Nancy Goodman, a fellow Stillwater historian.
Buck, 92, died Oct. 29 in Bayport.
Her beginnings lacked an interest in history, she would admit later, but after graduating from Hamline University in English and fine arts, she took a job at a historic location.
According to a Stillwater Gazette interview in 1997, she worked for the U.S. Army Special Services in Seoul during the Korean conflict, about 30 miles from the front lines. She operated a service club with a theater, post office and snack bar. She arranged dances, Ping-Pong matches and carnivals for U.S. soldiers until the war came too close and she was evacuated on a Norwegian freighter.
After returning to Minnesota, Buck took a job at WAVN radio station in Stillwater. She was paired with eventual WCCO radio legend Roger Erickson in a program in which she was "Auntie Anita" and he was "Uncle Eric."
"As she experienced the atmosphere of the river town that was the birthplace of Minnesota, her interest peaked in a subject she never really liked — history," the Gazette reported.
Once Buck got involved with the Washington County Historical Society, she did everything from scraping paint off the banisters at the Warden's House to raising money for the museum. She created the Historical Society's first endowment fund.
In the 1960s, she participated in a campaign to save Washington County's century-old courthouse in Stillwater. The county owned the building and land, and officials wanted to tear it down to make room for modern offices. Historians prevailed, and today the Historic Courthouse remains one of the most popular old buildings in the city.
She wrote about her Korea experience in her memoir, "Before the Melons Ripen." Her history books, still in circulation today, are "Steamboats on the St. Croix," published in 1990, "Jo Lutz Rollins and the Stillwater Art Colony" in 1997 and "Behind Barbed Wire: German Prisoner of War Camps in Minnesota" in 1998.
Buck held several prominent volunteer positions in Stillwater over the years, serving on the city library and Lakeview Hospital boards and on the Historical Society board including two years as president. In 1996, she was chairwoman of Stillwater's bicentennial celebration.
"Anita was another of Stillwater's institutions, a real Stillwater figure," said Jerry Brosious, who grew up two houses from the Buck family in Stillwater. He also edited the Historical Society's quarterly paper for 20 years.
"She was very thorough with her research, very concerned with her documentation, and wrote in an accessible and interesting way that captured her readers' attention," Brosious said.
Buck also loved painting with watercolors.
"She has gone to the Boundary Waters where she sketched and painted in the morning, hiked the Gunflint Trail in the afternoon, and was even serenaded by wolves one evening," the Gazette reported.
Buck was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene. She is survived by two daughters, Carol Cullen of Stillwater and Kitty Beal of Plymouth; two granddaughters, and a brother, Norman Albrecht.
Services have been held.
Kevin Giles • 651-925-5037
