A Tragic Loss

This morning I received the terrible news that Pennwriter James Buescher was killed in a car accident Sunday night. Jim will always be missed by all who were fortunate enough to  know him. At this moment I feel inadequate. I cannot find the words to express the sadness I feel. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

Jade Blackwater posted the following on the Pennwriters e loop. I am touched by her words and believe Jim would be too.

Things I loved about James: his intelligence, his wit, his incredible writing, his shoulder-shrug-giggle, his teenage tendency to push boundaries and press buttons, his joie de vivre, his openness to the strange things that scared him, his story — in whatever state of completion — Bin Fishers, his jet-set-style, his identification with Eastern and Post-Communist Europe, his many and varied friendships, his ability to size me up and identify our commonalities while nitpicking our differences, his scathing criticisms, his desire for acceptance, his contradictory search for self and identity while concurrently condemning and eschewing “naval gazing,” his supernatural awareness, his habit of referring to me with names like “Sweetums,” his never-ending quest for genuine love.

I miss you, James. You will always be remembered.

—Jade

According to the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, Buescher had been a correspondent for Lancaster Newspapers since 2003. He has won numerous newspaper writing awards, and his work also has appeared in the Christian Science Sentinel and on WITF-FM radio station.

A graduate of Wake Forest University, North Carolina, Buescher also is a published playwright and the author of a Las Vegas travel guide.