Christopher James Buckley

Christopher lived an active and full life, earning scholastic and athletic awards from an early age. After high school, Chris earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from GMI (Kettering) and promptly headed West, to Huntington Beach. After a short time on the West Coast, Chris returned to Michigan to earn his MBA from the University of Michigan.MBA in hand, Chris set off to conquer the business world, eventually settling in Kansas City to work for Sprint from 1997-2006. His career with Sprint eventually led him back to California with Boost Mobile. Chris earned a promotion as the Project Manager at Boost Mobile’s corporate office in Irvine,CA and worked hard until the genetic symptoms of Huntington’s Disease started to disrupt his daily life.

Chris was married to Letizia Rodriguez and they were blessed with 4 awesome children:Chelse, Austin, Marcos and Giovanni. Fortunately, all of the children have been living near Chris in Houston, allowing them to spend quality time with their father for the past 5 years. True joy for Chris was found in playing dominoes with his kids and laying down another perfect hand to win the game, or being on the sidelines watching one of his kid’s sporting events.

Throughout Chris’ life, his magnetic smile, tender heart and personality granted many friends and supporters to him. An impactful part of his life was through his activity in the Knights of Columbus, becoming a 4 th Degree at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Houston. Prior to Houston, Chris’s faith remained at St. Agnes Church in Kansas City and later at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newport Beach,CA, where he joined his first Knights of Columbus group. Next to his faith, Chris also greatly cherished the camaraderie of his fraternity brothers within Phi Delta Theta. The 14 Brothers have remained in close contact over the 30 years since graduating from GMI in 1989 (now known as Kettering University).

In addition to his 4 children, Chris is survived by his father, Thomas (Mary) Buckley, Clawson, MI, and 3 brothers; David (Gina) Buckley, Houston, TX, Timothy (Heidi) Buckley, Rock Hill, SC, Joel (Pamela) Buckley, Taftville, CT, Chris’s children’s grandmother Leticia Zornizer, Houston, TX; plus 10 nieces and nephews, 10 aunts and uncles, and a large extended family. Chris is predeceased by his mother, Ionamae F. (Parker) Buckley, Aunt Jeanne P. (Buckley) Learman, Uncle Carl M. Hanks, nephew Braak Buckley and nephew Cody W. Buckley, as well as both sets of grandparents, James (Mae) Buckley and Stuart (Minnie) Parker. Cremation will take place and a celebration of life will take place once it is safe for everyone to gather together. As a 4 th Degree in the Knights of Columbus, the family desires to honor him according to his wishes.In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to: Huntington’s Disease Society of America (https://HDSA.org ) to help continue the fight for a cure.

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