"My first volunteer effort was with a committee that was trying to make some sense of the street naming in Los Alamos, " John Buchen recalled. "We soon determined that the task was nearly hopeless and too few people would be happy to change their addresses and not to have moved at all!"

John and his wife Barbara, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Sept. 2, 2006 moved to Los Alamos on Sept. 7, 1949 "for a year, if we liked it," he said. "That was 57 wonderful years ago."

In the early 1960s John and Barbara's five children, Terri, Jerry, Katy, Tony, and Tina, wanted an outdoor pool. "It was a struggle to get enough money to build East Park Pool," said John. "We spent every weekend going out and drumming up memberships. I served in all positions, including president."

John and Barbara live at Oppenheimer Place where he has served for a decade on the Oppenheimer Place board. He was on the Sombrillo board in the 1990s and was also on the former Jemez House Group Home board.

Written by Karen Nilsson Brandt, copyright ©