Alan "Buck" Buckley
September 22, 1948 - September 12, 2008

Buckley moved to the City of Burbank in 1952 and graduated from Burbank High in 1966.

Buckley, known as "Buck" to his friends, started his city career as a "mechanics helper" in 1976 and was promoted to a full-time mechanic three years later. He worked on the heavy-duty fleet of trucks, such as those used for refuse.

He was a longtime Metrolink commuter who took the train to and from his home in Simi Valley. The 59-year-old Simi Valley man grew up around them -- his father worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad -- and he grew older with them. Every day for more than 20 years, Buckley woke up at 4 a.m. to take the Metrolink train to Burbank. And every afternoon he rode it back home, always sitting in the first car.

"He hated to drive and he loved trains," Patricia Buckley, his wife of 32 years, said. "He said that when he died he wanted to have his ashes thrown off the back of a train."

On Friday, September 12, 2008, "Buck," as he was known to friends, was sitting in the first car of Metrolink train 111 when it collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train. He died on the scene, his wife said. The family found out about his death at 4 a.m. on Saturday, putting a sad end to a frantic, nearly 12-hour search. Patricia Buckley spent Saturday trying to get over the loss of the man she called her "rock." Instead she just kept thinking about what kind of person he had been.

He was an "everyday guy," she said, a strong, steady man who would do anything for his family. "He didn't want any frills and didn't like much attention," she said. "He didn't do anything heroic. He just loved his family."

She said she first met the man who would become her husband when they were students at Burbank High School. She chased after him, she says, because "he was just so cute." They started dating at age 16 and were married at 19.

The couple had two children. They have six grandchildren, whom Buck doted on. "He would just play with them on the floor and bake cookies with them," Patricia Buckley said.

Although the whole family will miss him, Patricia says she is glad that Buck died doing something he loved. "It's kind of ironic," she said. "He died on a train."