Martin Wallace “Buck” Burch passed away on August 21, 2024, due to complications from Parkinson™s. He was the only child of Martin and Lucille Burch.
He grew up on a farm near Clearmont, Missouri. He was baptized at the Clearmont Baptist Church. Buck and Carolyn were continually active in the Methodist and Christian Churches in Plattsburg. He was a 1963 graduate of West Nodaway, Burlington Jct., Missouri. He graduated with honors from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1967 with a BS in Agriculture and a minor in Biology. He and his wife, Carolyn, recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. He is survived by wife Carolyn; two sons, Shawn Burch and wife, Maggie, and Travis Burch; and grandchildren; Whitney and Austin Burch.
In his spare time, he enjoyed landscaping, designing stained glass and a part-time photography business. After he retired, he and Carolyn enjoyed golfing, snow skiing in Colorado, traveling around the world and country with friends, as well as entertaining friends and family to dinner parties at their home on Lake Concord, Plattsburg, Missouri. In 2011, Buck and Carolyn settled in Columbia, Missouri, to be closer to their children and grandkids that would attend the University of Missouri and to provide Buck the medical support for Parkinson™s.
Throughout his 39-year career with USDA-NRCS, he advanced through many positions. His first position was as a trainee in Fulton, Missouri. He was then selected as District Conservationist in Ozark, Missouri. While in that position he developed a program to seed grass by helicopter. He also participated in a Rotary Group Study Exchange Team to England for a four-week tour. Shortly after his return, he was transferred to Clinton County as District Conservationist in Plattsburg, Missouri. Among the many duties of this position, the Plattsburg office was also designated as a training location.
Later, Buck was chosen to be the Resource Conservationist based in St. Joseph, Missouri, which included a 12-county area in Northwest Missouri. After several years in that position, he was promoted to Area Conservationist, in 1993 he was selected to National Liaison to Region 7 of the Environmental Protection Agency in Kansas City, Kansas. That position included programs between EPA and NRCS in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. He also served on a team advisory committee that dealt with watersheds near Moscow, Russia, and Warsaw, Poland, further developing international relationships within Agriculture and Natural Resources. Buck™s final assignment was as a National Liaison to the National Pork Producers Council in Des Moines, Iowa. His primary focus was developing a guide to be used as a training tool for environmental swine production and recruiting people to go on farms to complete assessments based on that guide. His creativity, drive, and commitment has not only shaped his family but has inspired many people. “Agriculture is a fundamental source of national prosperity. Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson
Buck has lived his life with this thought always in mind: “Some things have been tragic, but most of them magic. But it™s been a good ride all the way.”
Cremation arrangements by Memorial Funeral Home of Columbia, Missouri. Graveside services will be private in Clearmont, Missouri. Online condolences may be shared at www.memorialfuneralhomecolumbia.com.
Buck would prefer you make donations to the Columbia Parkinson™s Support Group at 1311 Vintage Dr., Columbia, MO 65203
