Sharley Buchner

SHARLEY D. BUCHNER (LABAR)

Traverse City – Sharley D. Buchner, 94, of Traverse City, left this world on September 27, 2026, to join her beloved husband, Earl, after a short battle with cancer.

Sharley was born on December 18, 1931, in Fife Lake, Michigan, to Pearl and Stanley Labar. At 12, she moved to Traverse City with her mom. There she met the love of her life, Earl Buchner, and they married on June 21, 1952. Together they built a family and a business side by side.

Sharley owned a bait, tackle and gift shop in Interlochen and worked alongside Earl in the wholesale live bait business that still operates in Interlochen today.

Sharley was the matriarch and heart of our family, and of the many families connected to ours. She was the quintessential hostess. Anyone who crossed her threshold became family, and there was always room at her table. She loved to cook and bake and kept at it right to the end.

If someone needed help, Sharley showed up. It did not matter whether they were family, a friend, or someone she had just met, and she never kept score. Her support did not stop with her own children. She stood behind the whole extended family, celebrating their good days and lending a hand through the hard ones. Her kindness reached animals too; she rescued many over the years.

Her greatest joy was time with family and friends, especially on Silver Lake and at the cabin on Spider Lake. Her greatest joy was time with family and friends, especially on Silver Lake and at the cabin on Spider Lake. Weekends at the cabin were something Sharley treasured deeply because they brought the whole family together. Saturdays meant a family cookout, plenty of food around the table, and time spent laughing and catching up with one another. She especially loved going bluegill fishing on Spider Lake. Those simple weekends, with her family gathered around her and a fishing pole in her hand, brought her great happiness and became some of the memories her family will treasure most. Sharley and Earl wintered in Bonita Springs, Florida, and enjoyed many good years of fishing and socializing there. She loved watching basketball right up to her last week.

Sharley is survived by her children, Dennis Buchner, David Buchner, Pam Burton and Duane Buchner, and by her two “extra” daughters, Darlene Buchner and Robin Mathias, whom she loved as her own. She stayed close to every one of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and never missed a birthday.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Earl, and by all of her siblings. She was the last of her immediate family.

Sharley wanted to thank her grandson, James Burton, for taking her grocery shopping every week and helping with chores around her apartment. She also thanked the staff and nurses at French Manor Yellow for their care in her last days, and the Hospice of Michigan nurses who came to see her.

Per Sharley’s wishes, cremation will take place privately. In honor of the many animals she rescued, memorial contributions may be directed to the Cherryland Humane Society.

All the battles are over. Rest now and enjoy every one of the reunions you are having. Your family will miss you every day.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

2 Timothy 4:7

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