CONWAY — The Rev. Dr. William Vincent Buchanan, Jr.,

affectionately known by all as Brother Bill and by his family as Billiam, Papa, Babu, and Daddy, passed away peacefully in his Conway home on May 29, 2023 at 68 years of age.

Bill was born in Jackson, Miss., in 1954 where he learned to hunt and fish and throw a baseball. He attended Ole Miss (and remained a lifelong Rebels fan) where he became a certified public accountant until his calling to enter the ministry. He earned his Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and began serving in parish ministry in Arkansas in 1990. Later in life he earned the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Leadership with Specialization in Spiritual Formation from Phillips Theological Seminary and served as chair of the Committee on Spiritual Formation for the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Over his thirty years of ministry he served Tyronza First Baptist Church, Parkin United Methodist Church, Perryville United Methodist Church, Salem United Methodist Church in Conway, Charleston United Methodist Church, Forrest City United Methodist Church, and West Memphis United Methodist Church. He was an organizer, a peace-maker, an animal and nature-lover, and a quiet leader who touched the lives of all he met.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents William Vincent Buchanan, Sr. and Jean Poe Buchanan as well as his wife, Patricia Eileen Buchanan. He is survived by his two children William Matthew [Melanie] Buchanan and Elizabeth Eileen [Eric] Buchanan; his seven grandchildren: Nora, Ada, and Willa Buchanan and Derrick, Kaleb, Micah, and Elijah Soard; his former wife and good friend Linda Singer Buchanan; his four step-children: Ryan [Eli] Singer, Matt [Terri] Singer, Lindsay Singer, and Andy [Julieana] Singer; and three step-grandchildren: Christian Singer and Graham and Olive Singer.

Bill served as the vice-president of the Tanzania Wesley Education Foundation benefitting Wesley College in Tanzania, and he taught the college’s very first class when it opened in 2017. In lieu of flowers, a contribution can be made in Memory of Rev. Dr. Bill Buchanan to the Tanzania Wesley Education Foundation, Dept. # 6488, Tanzania Wesley Education Foundation, PO Box 11407, Birmingham, Ala. 352466488 or online at www.wesleycollegetzfoundation.com.

Visitation will be held at Roller-McNutt Funeral Home in Conway, Ark., on Thursday, June 1, 2023 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., and a memorial service will be held at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock on Friday, June 2, 2023 at 10 a.m.

Condolences can be addressed to the Family of Bill Buchanan, 1820 N. Harrison St., Little Rock, Ark. 72207.