AUBURN EUGENE BUELL, a resident of Lakewood, Calif., for 57 years, died on July 26, 2007, in Lakewood Regional Hospital. He was the son of George Franklin Frank and Lena Ethel Effie (Ross) Buell. He was born in Alpena Pass in Carroll County on Aug. 3, 1919.

Auburn was united in marriage with Juanita Dee Jackson on Oct. 13, 1938, in Carroll County by Rev. Jesse Powell. They celebrated 65 years of marriage before her death Feb. 22, 2004.

Auburn attended Carroll County schools before he left home in 1935 and moved to the Salinas Valley of California, where he worked on the vast ranches of the area. After their marriage, Auburn and Juanita made their home in California until he was drafted into the United States Army in 1942. He served in Europe where he landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day and then participated in four additional major offensives in Central Europe, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Northern France, including the Battle of the Bulge. He was awarded five bronze stars for those campaigns and was entitled to wear the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Campaign ribbon, three overseas Bars, and a bronze arrowhead

After his military discharge Auburn farmed in the Farewell community of Carroll County for about two years. In 1947, he moved his family back to California. They settled in southern California, where he lived the remainder of his life. He was a retired diesel mechanic/shop superintendent of a large trucking company.

Auburn was preceded in death by his parents; by his wife Juanita; by one daughter, Lynetta Jean Jeanne Bell; by brothers, Raymond, Argie and Arlis; and by his sister, Ruby McNiel. He is survived by one sister, Lucille Stanphill of Port Orchard, Wash.; his daughter and son-in-law, Delores and Ron Eveland of Cerritos, Calif.; his son-in-law Dick Bell of Lakewood, Calif.; his grandsons and granddaughters-in-law Scott and Barbara Eveland of Arizona, Rick and Laurie Eveland of Lakewood, Calif. Tim Bell of Dayton, Nev., Brian and Michelle Bell of Minden, Nev., Paul and Lupe Eveland of Artesia, Calif., and Mark and Dyan Bell of Bellflower, Calif.; 13 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

Military funeral services were held Tuesday July 31, 2007, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, Calif. in the Church of Our Fathers with Rev. George B. Vogel, Chaplain Veteran s Affairs Medical Center, Long Beach, California officiating. He was honored with a flag draped casket and by a 21-gun salute conducted by the Hawthorne, California VFW Post 2075. His great-grandson, Derek Eveland, a veteran of the war in Iraq, presented the flag to Auburn s daughter. Auburn s long-time friend Bernard Cain performed Taps. Interment followed in the Garden of Protection at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cypress, Calif.