Buren Oswald

Buren Rufus Oswald was born in Leesville, SC, on January 18, 1931. He spent his early years working on his parents’ farm with siblings Reba, Mary Lou and Wilbur. He recalled neighbor Eskie Ellewine teaching him how to make a newfangled sandwich, “you put jelly and pinnit butter between two pieces of bread and, boy, you’ve got yourself something.” Though the family was crammed into a small, modest farmhouse, his mother, Mary Sudella, baked pies daily. At 17 he faced keeping the farm going after the death of his father, Henry.

Buren served as a rifleman in the National Guard for two years. It was in the mess hall where he first discovered popcorn, which he found so delicious he ate until ending up in the hospital. He received an honorable discharge after finding full-time employment as a driver for Coca Cola Bottling Co.

While living in Columbia, SC, he’d often hear his neighbor, Catherine Smith, playing piano. They were married in 1952 and raised three children together, Mark, Judy and Stephen, in a cozy brick ranch in West Columbia. Buren’s penchant for driving soon became recreational, and he took the family up and down the east coast whenever vacation time allowed, often reading every word of every display in local museums. He stayed close with his mother and siblings. After the untimely death of Reba’s young son, Dewight, Buren sat up all night in the funeral home with his body.

Buren retired from Coke in 1986, but would continue to drive professionally (part-time) and recreationally into his 90s. He gardened, growing many of his and Catherine’s vegetables. He was a deacon and long-time member at West Side Baptist Church. He and Catherine exchanged loving, supportive letters with Mark, living in Jacksonville, FL as a stained glass artist and AIDS activist. During this time Buren was an enthusiastic and active grandfather to Judy’s three children, Daniel, Sierra, and Amber, with her husband David and daughter Michelle. He camped out with them on July 4th, telling ghost stories and churning peach ice cream. In their twenties, the grandkids spent Monday nights with their grandparents — sitting around the formica table under the Coke light fixture, eating Buren’s cast-iron-skillet fried chicken. He would bring out two pies for dessert, dramatically plopping them onto the table while grinning, “ta da!”

When Stephen and his husband Robert came to town, Buren hosted them in the “Coke Room,” where collectible bottles, blankets, buttons, miniatures, and his navy blue driver’s hat were displayed. This room also contained over 60 souvenir flat-brim caps, organized by color, each collected over Buren and Catherine’s decades of travel across 50 states and 70 years of marriage.

Buren, age 93, passed away in his sleep on Sunday, January 12, 2025, seven months after losing Catherine and six days before his 94th birthday. Catherine was one day older than him — he liked to say, “I married an older woman.” In birthdays, that remains true.

He is predeceased by Catherine Smith Oswald, his sons Mark Randall Oswald and Stephen Bruce Oswald, and his siblings. He is survived by his daughter, Judy Catherine Oswald Machado, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The family would like to thank HaDora Hospice, The Pines, and Latisha Brown