Muristek
11/15/36 – 5/15/22
Dana Bucey passed away following complications from a fall.As a youngster on his way to school, he passed a burger joint and noticed the owner picking up trash in the parking lot. He made a deal with the owner to pick up all the trash on his way to school in exchange for spending money. From then on, he was always working.After graduating from Santa Barbara High School (Class of ’55) where Dana played on the Dons’ basketball team, he flipped burgers, was an attendant at the Chevron station in Goleta, drove big rigs and cement trucks.He was a very good bowler and was a teacher and coach to many locals.For three decades, Dana Bucey was in such high demand as wallpaper hanger in the Santa Barbara area he actually told paint and wallpaper stores to NOT give out his phone number.After paperhanging, in the 1980s, he became a blackjack dealer at the Chumash Casino and was eventually promoted to floor manager. Many of the dealers he hired remember him fondly to this day.He played poker at a very high level both locally and in the L.A. area. Just a few years ago, he entered the Senior Division of the World Series of Poker and finished in the money!After retiring, he became a private driver for local residents proving he was always working–even when he wasn’t working.As a Lifetime Member of the Elks Lodge #613 Santa Barbara, he could be found playing billiards at their local Goleta location.He will be missed by all his friends, fellow Elks, co-workers, team mates, passengers, and fellow poker players.Special thanks go to his neighbors, Mariella and Steve Stockmal who helped him in so many ways, to fellow Elk, Claire Duvall at McDermott-Crockett Mortuary, to his lawyer Richard Brickman, to Lani Medina and her family from Mulligan’s Bar & Grill, to the great staff of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, and Monty and the staff at McDonald’s in Goleta.“I could die today and be happy” he often remarked after a very close call with Covid in 2020. “I never thought I’d make it past eighty, let alone eighty-six!”
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