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Some of the reasons I respect those who serve us as Cops
Daughter weds during dying dad's final hours
Deputy sheriff injured in tornado removed from life support after ceremony
By John Springer
TODAYShow.com contributor
Updated: 8:57 a.m. CT May 9, 2007
A Kansas police officer critically injured in last week's monster F-5 tornado clung to life just long enough to give his daughter away to the man she loves.
"He didn't really give me a sign that he was there. I could feel he was there. I could feel he accepted the fact this was a way he could give me away, even though he couldn't say anything to me or see me," Kylee Buckman, 18, said Wednesday on TODAY.
Robert "Tim" Buckman, 46, suffered severe injuries when his patrol car was thrown about 300 feet by the tornado, a massive storm with winds reaching 205 m.p.h. that spread death and destruction across a track estimated to be 1.7 miles wide.
Buckman, a deputy sheriff for the Macksville Police Department, was brain dead in a coma early Tuesday when his wife and adult children made the difficult decision to have doctors turn off the machine that was helping him breathe.
But first, Kylee wanted to give her dad one last gift.
Although he did not know his youngest daughter had became engaged to her boyfriend, Josh Mondello, two weeks earlier, Buckman's family contacted their family priest and hastily arranged a bedside ceremony.
"Basically, it was just `I will' vows. We planned to be married August 16," Kylee told TODAY host Meredith Vieira. "I obviously realized my father wasn't going to be there to give me away ... We all went in there. [The priest] talked to my father. Josh and I stood on the right side of the bed. I held his hand and [the priest] read the vows to us."
Hours later, life support was discontinued. Buckman was pronounced dead within minutes.
Giving person
Kylee plans to go ahead with the official ceremony this summer, but she wanted to say the marriage vows at her father's side to let him know just how much he meant to her. It was a farewell gift to a man who gave so much in life and death.
Buckman was celebrating his parent's 50th wedding anniversary Friday night when the massive tornado approached. The first thing he did was head home to warn his family.
"He came home and I was getting ready for bed and he said, `Get dressed and get out of here as fast as you can. Go north,' " Sally Buckman, the officer's widow, said Wednesday. "I told him to be careful and that I loved him, and that was it."
Buckman jumped in his patrol car and started spotting the storm for police dispatchers and the National Weather Service.
At some point, he realized how massive the approaching tornado was and how much peril he was in.
"He was on the highway, and he told my son, `My phone is about to die. I don't think I'm going to get out of this one,' " Sally said.
The tornado threw the patrol car 300 feet into a wheat field. A passing trucker spotted the vehicle when a lightning strike illuminated the field, and summoned help, according to an Associated Press report.
Buckman, an eight-year veteran of the Macksville force and volunteer firefighter since he was 18, suffered massive injuries to his upper body. Doctors transferred him to a trauma center in Wichita, but it became clear after several days that his condition probably would never improve.
Buckman's family faced the tough decision of terminating life support.
"It was a joint decision between the children and myself," Sally said.
On Tuesday morning at about 7:45 a.m. CT, Buckman became the 10th person to die of injuries sustained from weekend tornadoes in Kansas.
And even in death, the police officer whose only concern Friday was for his family and community, continues to give. His eyes, liver and kidneys were harvested for donation.
Daughter weds during dying dad's final hours
Deputy sheriff injured in tornado removed from life support after ceremony
By John Springer
TODAYShow.com contributor
Updated: 8:57 a.m. CT May 9, 2007
A Kansas police officer critically injured in last week's monster F-5 tornado clung to life just long enough to give his daughter away to the man she loves.
"He didn't really give me a sign that he was there. I could feel he was there. I could feel he accepted the fact this was a way he could give me away, even though he couldn't say anything to me or see me," Kylee Buckman, 18, said Wednesday on TODAY.
Robert "Tim" Buckman, 46, suffered severe injuries when his patrol car was thrown about 300 feet by the tornado, a massive storm with winds reaching 205 m.p.h. that spread death and destruction across a track estimated to be 1.7 miles wide.
Buckman, a deputy sheriff for the Macksville Police Department, was brain dead in a coma early Tuesday when his wife and adult children made the difficult decision to have doctors turn off the machine that was helping him breathe.
But first, Kylee wanted to give her dad one last gift.
Although he did not know his youngest daughter had became engaged to her boyfriend, Josh Mondello, two weeks earlier, Buckman's family contacted their family priest and hastily arranged a bedside ceremony.
"Basically, it was just `I will' vows. We planned to be married August 16," Kylee told TODAY host Meredith Vieira. "I obviously realized my father wasn't going to be there to give me away ... We all went in there. [The priest] talked to my father. Josh and I stood on the right side of the bed. I held his hand and [the priest] read the vows to us."
Hours later, life support was discontinued. Buckman was pronounced dead within minutes.
Giving person
Kylee plans to go ahead with the official ceremony this summer, but she wanted to say the marriage vows at her father's side to let him know just how much he meant to her. It was a farewell gift to a man who gave so much in life and death.
Buckman was celebrating his parent's 50th wedding anniversary Friday night when the massive tornado approached. The first thing he did was head home to warn his family.
"He came home and I was getting ready for bed and he said, `Get dressed and get out of here as fast as you can. Go north,' " Sally Buckman, the officer's widow, said Wednesday. "I told him to be careful and that I loved him, and that was it."
Buckman jumped in his patrol car and started spotting the storm for police dispatchers and the National Weather Service.
At some point, he realized how massive the approaching tornado was and how much peril he was in.
"He was on the highway, and he told my son, `My phone is about to die. I don't think I'm going to get out of this one,' " Sally said.
The tornado threw the patrol car 300 feet into a wheat field. A passing trucker spotted the vehicle when a lightning strike illuminated the field, and summoned help, according to an Associated Press report.
Buckman, an eight-year veteran of the Macksville force and volunteer firefighter since he was 18, suffered massive injuries to his upper body. Doctors transferred him to a trauma center in Wichita, but it became clear after several days that his condition probably would never improve.
Buckman's family faced the tough decision of terminating life support.
"It was a joint decision between the children and myself," Sally said.
On Tuesday morning at about 7:45 a.m. CT, Buckman became the 10th person to die of injuries sustained from weekend tornadoes in Kansas.
And even in death, the police officer whose only concern Friday was for his family and community, continues to give. His eyes, liver and kidneys were harvested for donation.
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+1,000 0 -
People like this man, the Marine that drowned while saving 2 children, and many many more would all be Good People no matter what they did to earn their paycheck... the fact that they choose some of the most difficult jobs is even more evidence to that... 0 -
What a wonderful person. May god bless him and his family! 0 -
+1,000.000 0 -
He risked his life to Serve and Protect.
A good man.0 -
knew tim for lots of years ..just doing job that needed done,no big ego trip...adios....karens oldest boy had two sheds lost & house damaged south of macksville..& his wifes parents who live by hopewell lost everything just like greensburg...some reason dan said they had to go to pratt that evening which was unusual..when they got back the were parts of two walls left with a small section above fireplace mantel & a glass kerosene light setting there in place undamaged...we had slight damage here with one tornado 1/2 mile west on friday nite with another following almost same path saturday nite...was clear then changed to rain that blocked visibility both times so didn't see anything pass by...we were popping up & down to the basement like prairie dogs...around two hundred irrigation systems ruined at last coffee shop count....new system runs about $50K now 0
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