Photo courtesy of June McCoy

Buddy McCoy is shown standing in front of the old location of Hoy-McCoy Funeral Home in downtown Blacksburg. The business moved to South Main Street in 2002 and was renamed McCoy Funeral Home.

Photo courtesy of June McCoy

Buddy McCoy (center) is surrounded by his grandchildren on his cherished John Deere tractor.

| Mary Hardbarger

mary.hardbarger@roanoke.com 381-1679

MCCOY -- Memories can often tear families and friends apart.

But the memory of William "Buddy" McCoy did just the opposite last week as his family and close friends gathered to reflect on the man they all admired.

Buddy McCoy, 76, died Dec. 7, 2008, after a long battle with heart complications. He was the longtime owner and operator of McCoy Funeral Home in Blacksburg.

He is survived by his wife, June, his four children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

June McCoy said after his death, letters of sympathy from across the area and abroad poured into her mailbox. She said everyone, from doctors to board members to high school friends, remembered her husband and his kindness.

Ellwood White, a high school friend of Buddy McCoy's, recalled in one letter a time when the man gave him the watch off his wrist just because he didn't have one.

"He was that kind of friend," White wrote in the letter.

June and Buddy McCoy were married 57 years and raised their children in McCoy and catered to the surrounding communities.

"He used to tell people he had been married to me all his life," June McCoy said.

Buddy McCoy bought the funeral home in 1981 in downtown Blacksburg after working at Electro Tech for 25 years. It was at Electro Tech that former Blacksburg Chief of Police Bill Brown had his first encounter with the funeral director.

"Buddy cared more about others than himself," Brown said. "He treated all people the same."

June McCoy said her husband's love for others pushed him into the funeral service business.

Aside from running a beloved community establishment, he enjoyed farming, especially while riding his cherished John Deere tractor. He served as president of the Virginia Funeral Directors Association, president of the Montgomery County-Blacksburg Kiwanis Club and chairman of the United Way of Blacksburg.

"Daddy was a workaholic," said Vanessa McCoy, June and Buddy McCoy's daughter.

But his work never got in the way of his family, June McCoy said.

Buddy McCoy reached out to thousands of families that passed through the doors of the funeral home.

Michael Rorren came to work at the funeral home in 1983 and said he was immediately struck by McCoy's presence.

"His enthusiasm in connecting with people was amazing," Rorren said. "He treated people the way they should have, and he was awful good to me."

In 1991, Buddy and June McCoy were en route to England for a funeral directors function when Buddy McCoy went into cardiac arrest while in the air. The plane was diverted to Ireland, where he spent 12 days in the hospital. June McCoy said he spent months recovering and then went right back into his same routine.

"His heart may have been physically damaged," McCoy said. "But it never stopped growing."

Buddy McCoy continued to struggle with his heart during the final years of his life, yet continued to give back.

Today, his friends and family said they are still feeling the tug of the loss of a great man but are continuing to follow in his footsteps of community outreach.

From delivering ham biscuits to the police station during Christmas to caring for the sick, Buddy McCoy, his loved ones say, was a special kind of man.