It is with great sorrow that we share with you the passing of retired Brother Kirk Buckels on February 8th, 2025.
Started working with us here at American Airlines in 1988 and retired in 2021 from Aviation Maintenance Technician – Base, Composites position.
Please keep the Buckels family in your thoughts and prayers.
Kirk was born in Huntsville, AL, the son of Bill and Jean Buckels. His dad was working for the Marshall Space Flight Center at that time, before he went to work on the Apollo Missions in Houston, and then to Rockwell International in Tulsa. Kirk was eight years old when his family moved to Tulsa, where he attended Waite Phillips and Bates Elementary Schools, Byrd Jr. High School, and graduated from Memorial High School in 1981.
Kirk was around 12 years old when he started to learn the guitar. He went on to play in numerous bands in just about every bar in Tulsa and beyond. In high school, Kirk took auto shop classes. Tearing engines apart and putting them back together, better and stronger than they were before, was his passion. He started with a black 1957 Chevy Nomad, then a 1970 Chevy Camaro named “Old Blue.” When he blew the small-block motor in Old Blue, he replaced it with a big block 454, which ignited his addiction to drag racing.
Kirk estimated that, in his 45 years of drag racing, he made approximately 1200 quarter-mile passes down the strip at the Tulsa International Raceway, with only one crash in Nov. 2021 that miraculously didn’t take his life. He crossed the finish line at 122mph, lost traction in a wet spot on the track, and crashed into the wall head-on. The crash totaled his white Corvette and broke his heart but, as Kirk would say, “That’s hod rodding!” He owned countless cars until his final hotrod, a beautiful burgundy 2016 Z06 Corvette he called “HE FLYS” which, after some modifications, finally broke into the 9-second range in the quarter mile, with a 9.992 in March 2024.
In 1988, Kirk was hired at American Airlines, where he worked as a mechanic for 34 ½ years until he retired in February 2023. He was so proud of his accomplishment of 30+ years of perfect attendance. His work was never a passion, like music or hot rodding, but he was dependable and grateful for his job and the friends he worked with.
When his dad was showing signs of dementia in 2021, he moved to Tulsa to be near Kirk. They were the very best friends a father and son could be. Kirk’s love of cars, his work ethic, and his love of astronomy came from his dad, who he absolutely adored his dad, and affectionately referred to as “the Boss.” When his dad passed on Feb. 12, 2024, a little piece of Kirk went with him.
And then along came Gina in 2008 and they married in July 2019. She was his perfect match, always up for one of his crazy adventures, and willing to ride any rollercoaster anywhere! When Kirk was diagnosed with stage 4 Multiple Myeloma in 2009, she took the very best care of him after he underwent a stem cell transplant and subsequent cancer treatment. Gina pushed Kirk outside of his comfort zone and they traveled whether it was a daytrip to a hidden gem in Oklahoma, a road trip to Southern California to visit Kirk’s sister, a cruise down the Rhine River through Germany, or an epic trip to Italy their calendar was always filled with plans to travel somewhere.
The last car Kirk purchased was his Tesla S Plaid, which ran a 9.5-second ¼ mile right off the showroom floor on street tires. He absolutely loved that car, which he named “SPACEBALLS” after the movie that coined the name “Plaid.” He loved to take his closest friends for rides in Spaceballs to blow their minds by “going Plaid.”
In 2021, after 12 years of cancer treatment for his Multiple Myeloma, Kirk was diagnosed with stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma. He underwent every form of cancer treatment there was surgery, radiation, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy. He passed quietly at home, where he wanted to be, with his wife and sister, February 8, 2025.
Kirk was preceded in death by his mother and father. He is survived by his wife, Regina Riddle, stepsons Shane Kincade and Stormy Morelli with wife Jenny Morelli, granddaughters Emery and Frankie Morelli, sister Shannon Buckels, nephew Roman Buckels, and numerous cousins.