Deceased: 1984-02-02
Diocese: BUFFALO
Seminary Graduation Year: 1964
The Rev. Thomas C. Buyers, 49, an assistant pastor at several Catholic parishes in the Buffalo area, died Thursday, Feb. 2, 1984 in Lake Wales, FL.
Father Buyers was assigned to the Diocese of Orlando in 1975, after suffering a heart attack. He was assigned to St. Charles Parish in Orlando and taught philosophy and theology at the Catholic University in the Bahamas. Locally, he served as an assistant pastor at St. Andrews, Blessed Trinity and Annunciation churches and at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf. He spoke several languages and at one time was the only priest in the Buffalo Diocese to know sign language. He was often called upon in judicial proceedings and civil matters to interpret for the deaf.
Father Buyers served in military intelligence until 1955. He attended the Diocesan Seminary at Niagara University for two years before being selected to attend North American College in Rome, where he was ordained in 1963. He returned here in 1964 and celebrated his first Mass at Holy Spirit Church in North Buffalo.
He was the son of the late William Buyers, head of Erie County Civil Defense, and the late Florence Maxwell Buyers.
Survivors include his brother, William A. Buyers, deputy commissioner of city human resources and former North District councilman. Also surviving are four sisters, Marilyn Matthies, Carol Cooley and Sharon Brady of Orlando, and Jeanine Rohner of Midland, Texas.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered Monday at Holy Spirit Church in Lake Wales, where Father Buyers was assistant pastor for the last four years. A memorial Mass will be offered here at Holy Spirit Church, 91 Dakota Ave., at 10 a.m. next Saturday.
