Scott Crevier's Family History Scott Crevier's Family History
Oliver "Buck" Champeau
(my 1st cousin, twice removed) was born Tuesday, September 4, 1934 in
Bailey's Harbor,
Door County, Wisconsin.
He died at the age of 41 on Monday, November 10, 1975 while serving as the 3rd Assistant Engineer aboard the
SS Edmund Fitzgerald,
on Lake Superior, Canada.
He had been living in Milwaukee at the time.
Oliver went by the nickname "Buck" most of his life. While researching Buck's family, I noticed that he was often referred to as "Oliver Jr" since his dad had the same name. It should be noted though that Buck was actually the 4th in a line of men named "Oliver Joseph Champeau," beginning with his great grandfather:
It's also worthy to note that in the larger Champeau family, their last name took on various spellings on various documents and headstones, for example: Champeau, Champoux, Shampo, Shampeau
Buck was the son of Oliver J. Champeau, III and Iva (Bridenhagen) Champeau. His father passed away at the age of 53 when Buck was only 13. His mother died at the age of 71 a year after Buck died.
Buck grew up in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. He attended St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School, which had recently opened in 1938 (when Buck was 4). He then attended Sturgeon Bay High School where he played football. Unfortunately, his father had passed away when he was 13 years old. About that situation, his brother Jack later said, "When my father died when we were very young, he (Buck) took over the family. He was 13 years old, but he was the man of the family." When Buck was a junior in high school, he decided to leave school and join the U.S. Marines to support his family.
After he returned from military service, Buck married Eileen Egan, they had one daughter. They later divorced.
Buck is my grandmother Clarice's 1st cousin (so he's my 1st cousin, twice removed). But Buck is also a part of the most confusing branch of my family tree. Simply put, there was a couple in the 1800s that married and had kids. And there was a second couple in the 1800s that married and had kids. No big deal so far. But then one spouse in each of those couples died, and the two remaining spouses married each other and had more kids. So, from only two couples came three brances of the tree; Buck came from that 3rd branch. You can read more details (and confusion) about that whole situation in Chapter 3 of this book.
Going down a generation to all those kids, Buck's dad and Clarice's mom (my great grandmother) were half siblings (because they had the same dad). Adding to that, I have close connections with that third branch as well. So, for those in my family who wonder how all of these folks are related, I made this chart:
Note that in the above tree, Oliver (Buck) is 1st cousin to Clarice Chevalier on his grandfather's side of the family, and also 1st cousin to Regina Laplant on his grandmother's side of the family. However, Clarice and Regina are not blood relatives. Side note: in 1965, Regina's daughter married Clarice's daughter's brother-in-law; but you can read more about that over in Chapter 3 of this book.
I found Oliver in both of the available U.S. census documents since his birth. In 1940, he was 5 years old in his parents house, living in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin. His dad died in 1947, when Buck was only 13 years old. So when he was 15 years old, the 1950 census shows him in his mother's household, where she was listed as a widow ("Wd"). They were living at 519 N. 7th Ave. in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin.
| 1940 U.S. Census excerpt | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Relation | Age | Status | Birth Place | Occupation |
| Champeau, Oliver | head | 46 | Married | Wisconsin | labor, highway dept |
| Iva | wife | 36 | Married | Wisconsin | |
| Betty | daughter | 14 | Single | Wisconsin | |
| Mary Jeanne | daughter | 6 | Single | Wisconsin | |
| Oliver | son | 5 | Single | Wisconsin | |
| John J | son | 3 | Single | Wisconsin | |
| Thomas D | son | 1 | Single | Wisconsin | |
| Whittaker, Frances | lodger | 80 | Widowed | Wisconsin | |
In December 1951, at the age of 17, Buck enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He did his basic training in San Diego, California. Prior to enlistment, he was employed at the Fidler Skilling Fuel and Dock Company.
A year later, Buck was still in San Diego serving the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. They left port on September 15, 1952 to aid United Nations forces off the coast of Korea during the Korean War. According to a Wikipedia article:
"She arrived at Yokosuka on 17 October and joined Task Force 77 off the Korean Coast on 31 October. Her aircraft struck hard with bombing and strafing attacks against enemy supply lines and coordinated bombing missions with surface gunstrikes along the coast. Her pilots downed two Soviet-built MiG-15 jets and damaged a third on 18 November. Strikes continued through 11 February, attacking enemy artillery positions, troop emplacements, and supply dumps along the main battlefront."
Buck was discharged from the Marines on December 18, 1954.
After his military service, he took a job at International
Harvestor, but was soon drawn back to the water as he had done
in the military. Buck had just built his dream home on Clark
Lake in Door County when he went to work on the Fitzgerald.
He had plans to gather the Champeau family for the first
time in his home for Christmas. But, fate had a different
story in mind, as the Edmund Fitzgerald sank a month earlier,
with him and 28 crewmates onboard
Buck died at the age of 41 on Monday, November 10, 1975 while serving as the 3rd Assistant Engineer aboard the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, on Lake Superior, in the waters of Ontario, Canada. The ship sank in a storm while battling fierce winds, snow, and waves. In genealogy terms, it's important to know where someone was born and died. So, to restate the obvious, while Buck was born in the Uniteed States, he died in Canada.
On Monday, November 17, a week after the ship sank, a memorial service was held in Toledo, Ohio for the 29 crewmembers. Many newspapers in the country picked up and ran an AP photo of Buck's mother, Iva Champeau, in tears at the service.
This newspaper article is the closest I could find to a proper obituary for Buck:
Buck's body was never returned to the family. He is buried with his shipmates at the bottom of Lake Superior. However, his family placed a memorial stone for him adjacent to his parents' grave at Saint Joseph Cemetery, Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin, USA.
On Monday, November 10, 2025, the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, my uncle Bob Olson and I visited the cemetery and took this photo of his memorial stone. It is located at these latitude/longitude coordinates: 44.8519, -87.3554.
In the years following his death, in addition to the dozens of stories, documentaries, and articles about the tragedy, a number of newspaper articles have been written specifically about Buck and his family.
In 2025, near the 50th anniversary of the sinking, CBS Detroit made this 2 minute news story, including an interview with Buck's daughter Debbie Gomez-Felder:
On July 4, 1995, an expedition was launched to dive on the Fitzgerald and retrieve the ship's bell, replacing it with a replica memorial bell that was engraved with all of the names of the crew, to be forever buried with their ship. The original bell would then be put on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, Paradise, Michigan. Buck's younger brother, Jack, was on board the ship that day, and was there when the bell came out from the the water. He said:
"My brother, who died on the Fitzgerald, was the oldest; he was about a year and a half older than I. And when my father died when we were very young, he took over the family. He was 13 years old, but he was the man of the family."
"He called me the night before I left to go to Vietnam, that if anything happened to me over there, he would come and get me. And I've tried now for all these years to bring him home, to come and get him. And this is as close as I can get, I can't do it anymore. And I know I won't be able to bring him home, but I've tried and this is the best I can do."
"And I belive that this will finally put this to an end. We can rest now, as I'm sure he is."
Here are a couple of videos of that event:
The following memorial was posted on the Boatnerd website on October 27, 2011, 36 years after the incident.
It was posted under the heading "The Loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald":
Dedicated to my Dad, Oliver J. Champeau - lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald, November 10, 1975. Through his eyes, I could see tomorrow. Through his arms, I could feel his strength. Though his knowledge, I felt history, and his love of nature. Through his devotion, I felt his commitment to family. Through his love and good heart, I would always strive to be like him. I never saw my father cry but I felt his broken heart. I didn't see him die, but I felt a terrible sense of grief and loss. Through his faith in God, I always felt protected from everything that life could throw in my direction. Even though I lost him so long ago now, I can never forget his laugh, his touch and his inspirational words. He was and is my hero. He wasn't perfect and neither am I. He was just a man who deserved allot more time on earth then was given, but that's just my opinion (not God's.) Dad, you will never be forgotten... not for one day, one month or any given year that goes by. I love you and miss you. I pray for you and all the other men that were lost with you and in such tragic ways. I grieve with them today as we did 36 years ago in Toledo, Ohio. You will never, ever be forgotten. My love lives on forever and ever!
Lovingly, your daughter Deborah
It's impossible to tell the story of Buck Champeau's life without mentioning the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. But there is so much information available about the ship, so I tried hard to be sure that this chapter of my book focuses specifically on Buck and his life, and not the ship. That said, if you'd like to read more about the ship, follow this button:
