Aloha from Salt Lake City / Jon Buchanan (Friend) Levi and I met in Hale 6 at BYUH. I was working as a resident advisor and helped him move in. My first impression of Levi was that he was a world traveler. He told me that he was born in Australia, but spent most of the last several years in school in Tonga and now was going to BYU Hawaii so that he could become a doctor. I had similar goals and was in many of his classes so we quite naturally became friends. Levi was the only person in the entire school that Brother Bruner liked. I don’t know how he did it, but grumpy old Bruner thought Levi was his golden child. He was the lab assistant for the zoology lab and helped dissect and mount whatever road kill Dr. Bruner happened to stumble across. I remember when we had a giant box that had a turtle in it that we had to send out for some sort of preservation procedure and the task fell to Levi and I to find a box big enough to package the guy in. I can still remember the nasty smell of that dead animal, but Levi never seemed to mind it. During our senior year, Levi and I were two of five people in the advanced anatomy course taught at BYUH. We would crouch for hours over the cadaver and cut away while wondering what kind of life this guy who gave his body to science lived. I remember during that class, neither of us was able to eat chicken (perhaps there was too close a resemblance to the anatomy cadaver). I remember going to Levi’s bachelor party at the Waimea bay beach on the north shore. We were just a bunch of guys hanging out at the beach, jumping off the rock and enjoying the Hawaiian waves. Afterward, Levi and the rest went to the Hooters restaurant in Honolulu. (I didn’t go because Sarah would probably have killed me.) Because Levi got married before me and had kids before me, I really looked to him as a sage source of advice on marital relationships and the duties of being a husband and father. Many times, Sarah and I went to visit Levi and Shalon in Mililani where they lived with Shalon’s brother. He and I would straggle along talking about life while Shalon and Sarah would go shopping at Wal-Mart. Most of what I remember about Levi is his sense of humor. Often he was the only one that laughed at my corny jokes and I appreciate that he thought I was funny. He carried himself with a quiet confidence that told me that nothing would ever faze him. He went through the medical school application process as many times as I did and knows the pain of rejection, but always seemed optimistic whenever we commiserated together about our rejection letters. While I was plotting bombing the admissions offices, Levi was planning for next year’s application. I found his dogged determination inspiring. Levi and Shalon’s friendship has been one that Sarah and I will always treasure. Of all the people we knew in college, Levi and Shalon have been the closest to our hearts. Our prayers go out to Levi and his family during this difficult time. Jon, Sarah, Makea(2 years old), and Kainoa(6 months old) Buchanan
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:29:03 +0000
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