Richard “Buzz” Estes, longtime Athens business owner and local historian who brought life to the dead through cemetery portrayals, has died.

Estes was a well-known businessman in Limestone County with a third-generation Athens business that was more than 100 years old.

He was also instrumental in organizing the annual Athens Cemetery Stroll and April Walking Tours in Athens’ historic districts. The cemetery stroll consists of local actors who portray their descendants, or those of others, who are buried in Athens City Cemetery. They dress like them and deliver speeches detailing their histories for the stroll.

Estes, who was first lieutenant commander of the Hobbs Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, not only helped organize the stroll, he was also an actor, often portraying Civil War characters.

His business

In 2000, Estes’ business — W.E. Estes & Son Inc. — celebrated its 100th year of business in Limestone County. It spent its lifetime located just off The Square in Athens.

Most of the building is now home to H.C. Blake Co., a longtime Huntsville plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electric business, which bought out Estes & Son in 2014. But, thanks in part to Estes, H.C. Blake Co. agreed to lease part of the building to Art on the Square for an art incubator.

In 2014, Estes told The News Courier the three-generation family business was the oldest business in Limestone County, serving customers in North Alabama and southern Tennessee. He offered a little history about it.

In 1900, Horton Lewis & W.E. Estes opened for business as a dry-goods store and farming supplier. Over the years, the business added V-C Fertilizer, rubber-tire tractors, diesel repair, milking equipment, pumps and refrigeration equipment, boll weevil catchers, seed-cleaning machines, metal grain bins and electric irrigation systems.

By 1959, the business turned to selling, installing and servicing plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems. Buzz Estes joined the business in 1962 following graduation from Vanderbilt University. And in 1972, with Buzz Estes as president and his wife, Doris, as secretary-treasurer, the business incorporated as W.E. Estes & Son Inc.

Friends speak

One of the people who worked closely with Estes, Limestone County Archivist Rebekah Davis, said she grew up with Estes’ children and got to know Estes, a history buff, better when she joined the Limestone County Archives.

“One of my favorite memories of Buzz was when I sat down on top of a tombstone in my hoop skirt, next to him in his Confederate Gray, while he passed around a bottle of wine to celebrate the completion of another successful Athens City Cemetery Stroll,” Davis said.

“Sometimes, he had me talk about the Civil War to Confederate veterans,” Davis said. “People look at the Sons of Confederate Veterans as a bunch of white guys fighting the Civil War all over again, but they were instrumental in making sure money was donated to the Fort Henderson project. It was a Union fort, and the 110th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment fought there.”

The group donated at least $2,000 to renovate the Trinity-Fort Henderson Complex, located on 4 acres off Brownsferry Street in Athens.

The three-phased plan calls for renovating and repurposing the former Trinity School, the county’s only high school for black students until it closed in 1970 amid desegregation; rebuilding the walls of Fort Henderson, a Union fort built and occupied by the 110th Colored Infantry in 1862-63 during the Civil War; and building a museum to tell the history of each. Trinity School was finished and renamed Pincham-Lincoln Center, now used for community events and as a polling place. The Fort Henderson and museum projects remain.

Davis said most of all, she remembers the many times Estes came to study at the archives.

“He loved history, and he loved this town,” she said. “He also loved to call up to the Limestone County Archives to pick on me and April Barron Davis from time to time. He will be missed for sure around these parts.”

Dedication

Teresa Todd, president of the Athens-Limestone County Tourism Association, also appreciated Estes’ love for history. Estes was on the tourism board for many years, happily serving as chairman-elect, chairman and past-chairman, she said. He also served as a tour guide for the Historical Walking Tours from 2006 to 2018 and the Haunts Walks, and he participated in the Athens Cemetery Stroll and assisted in recruiting actors.

“Buzz was always willing to share his love of Civil War history with me and advise me on many questions I had about the history of Athens and Limestone County,” Todd said. “I always had time to sit with my friend and listen to his amazing knowledge on so many subjects. I will miss his impromptu visits that were always welcome at the tourism office.”

Confederate veterans

Many of Estes’ friends in the Sons of Confederate Veterans shared memories on social media Friday after hearing of his death.

Jimmy Hill, a current Army of Tennessee councilman, past commander of the Alabama SCV and past commander of the Hobbs camp before Estes took over, had this to say about his friend:

“The thing I always remembered about Buzz is if he told you he’d do something, he’d do it. Some people thought he was a little grumpy. He wasn’t. He was really good-natured, but very honest and to-the-point, whether you liked to hear it or not.”

Hill cited Estes’ work on the summer walking tours, his efforts to launch the cemetery stroll and keep it going, and his overall dedication to Athens and Limestone County among his accomplishments.

“He was very civic-minded and on a lot of committees,” Hill said. “He was equally involved before and after the store closed, but perhaps more actively involved after it closed. He was good to work with, and I am going to miss him a lot.”