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Amsterdam honors Forest BuchananJanice Kiaski/StaffHAPPY 90TH — Many well-wishers turned out Friday evening at a community-sponsored birthday party to wish Forest Buchanan of Amsterdam a happy 90th.By JANICE KIASKIStaff writerAMSTERDAM — Forest Buchanan is an exceptional individual.And a community of well-wishers turned out to tell him so on his 90th birthday Friday during an open house reception held at the Amsterdam Fire Hall.Mayor Michael Morgan proclaimed June 2 as Forest Buchanan Day and a new village sign was unveiled, one that distinguishes Amsterdam from all other rural communities in Jefferson County.That’s because it’s the home of Forest Buchanan, an educator, explorer, naturalist, ex-poet, author, big-game safari hunter and accomplished violinist.The fire hall was a fitting place for the community-sponsored celebration, given the building formerly was Amsterdam High School. It was there in 1928 that Buchanan began his teaching career in biology and delighted in field trips that introduced students to a world of nature he continues to study and appreciate himself.BUchanan’s educational careerspanned 43 years. He was named principal of Amsterdam High School in 1947 and became principal of Springfield High School in 1954.He retired in 1971, but hardly slowed down.Two of his three African safari hunting trips came after that, expeditions from which he brought home everything from a cape buffalo and a zebra to a Chacma baboon and a reticulated giraffe.Buchanan authored “The Breeding Birds of Carroll and Northern Jefferson Counties’’ and spent endless summers collecting and classifying plants, birds, trees, mushrooms, flowers and ferns.In March, he returned from his 14th trip to Puerto Rico, where he continues his mission to catalogue for the first time more than 200 species of ferns.“The mountain rain forests are loaded with species of ferns, wildflowers, trees — there’s no end to it,” said the soft-spoken Buchanan, who admitted he was surprised at all the fuss being made over him.Buchanan was a bird collector for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and other educational facilities, and has been an educator at nature camps Ogle-bay Institute sponsors near Terra Alta in West Virginia.“He’s a special man,” said Sally Curry, a library board member whose husband, Bill, was a student of Buchanan’s. “Ever sincewe were married, I have heard about Forest.”Forest Buchanan is an institution of sorts in Amsterdam, agrees Irene Saho, library board president. She said most of the board members were either his students as she was or taught with him.
Newspaper Details
Herald Star
Steubenville, Ohio, US
Sun, Jun 04, 1995
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Public L.
OH, USA 28 Nov 2023
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