Lloyd M. Bucher - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Bucher was born in Pocatello, Idaho, where he was given up for adoption by his birth mother, and was orphaned at an early age (his adoptive mother dying of cancer when he was age 3). He was raised by his father, grandparents, various other family members, his father again, then drifted through a series of Catholic orphanages in Idaho until he read a magazine article about Father Flanagan's Boy's Town in Nebraska. He wrote to Father Flanagan and was surprised when he wrote back to Bucher. Bucher was accepted at Boy's Town in the Summer of 1941, and for the rest of his life considered it to be his home. Bucher flourished at Boy's Town, making honor roll the majority of his time there and playing football, basketball, track and baseball. Like most young men during World War II, he dropped out his senior year to enlist in the Navy, serving the last year of the war and for 2 years afterward (1945–1947). As an enlisted man, Bucher reached the rank of quartermaster second class and obtained a high school diploma. He then worked in construction and as a bartender before entering the University of Nebraska on a football scholarship in 1949. While attending university, he signed up for Naval ROTC. He graduated with a BS degree in 1953 and was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve.