Joan Buning

Joan Schaeffner Buning, 92, gently passed away in her sleep on April 27, 2014. She had been living at home with the loving care and support of a circle of caregivers and her daughters.

Joan Schaeffner was born in Brooklyn, NY on June 25, 1921, to Christopher Schaeffner and Nora Alty Schaeffner. She attended Our Lady of Wisdom Academy.

Joan came to Florida in 1941 when her mother, Nora, and her three siblings, Norma, Carol and Jim, moved from Long Island to the Gainesville, FL area and rejoined her father who had taken a job the year before as a business manager at the training facility for US Troops at Camp Blanding. Joan transferred from the City College of New York to Florida State College for Women and graduated in 3 years with a degree in accounting. Following graduation she began to work in Gainesville. There she was introduced to Bill Buning, a UF graduate who had just returned from WWII and was trying to reconnect with fraternity friends. They were married in October, 1946 in Gainesville, FL and moved to Orlando where Bill worked with his father at Buning Agency.

Bill and Joan raised their eight children in Orlando. Mary Ellen, Louisville, KY, Richard Bonnie, Beaufort, SC, Alice Szunyog, Eustis, FL, Nora Cathy Apopka, FL, Janet Lemmen Jay Orlando, FL, Cathy Steiger Jim Orlando, FL, Tom Debi Dallas, TX and Dan Jan Springfield, MO. All the children attended St. James School and graduated from Bishop Moore HS. They enjoyed the love of 21 grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren and her brother Jim Schaeffner Cheryl Cincinnati, OH. Bill and Joan celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 1996. Bill passed away in 1999.

In addition to working with Bill and raising children, Joan served as a member of Catholic Women, was an active member of the YMCA and used her considerable energy and talents to help others and stay connected to family via the internet. She was always ready to travel to visit children and grandchildren, or tour Italy with her sister. She always remembered birthdays and loved to celebrate church and family events.

Her entire family has experienced the quiet blessing of her loving strength, her welcoming manner and her compassionate and forgiving nature. She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

Viewing will take place at Carey Hand Colonial Funeral Home, from 5pm until time of prayer service at 7pm, on Thursday, May 1. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00, Friday, May 2 at St. James Cathedral. Interment to follow at Woodlawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, a living gift in Joans name may be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society or to the Sisters of St Joseph: 241 St George St, St Augustine, FL 32084