Rochester Hills Grandmother and Library Volunteer 'Made a Big Difference'

A Rochester HIlls grandmother who was killed in a weekend crash is being remembered as a tireless volunteer who “made a big difference in a lot of lives.”

Elisabeth “Liz” Buchheister, 62, was killed Saturday morning in a crash with a suspected drunken driver, The Daily Tribune reports.

Oakland County Sheriff’s investigators said Buchheister was southbound on Rochester Road near Mead Road when a 2003 Ford F-150 driven by a 25-year-old Rochester man crossed the center line and crashed head-on into her 2008 Saturn Vue.

Authorities are awaiting the results of blood tests before deciding whether to charge him with operating while intoxicated, causing death.

Buchheister was taken to Crittenton Hospital in Rochester Hills, where she was pronounced dead. Her 10-year-old grandson, who was with her at the time, was airlifted to Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital as a precautionary measure.

Buchheister, a retired auto worker, volunteered at the Rochester Hills Public Library for eight years, including two years as a member of the library’s board of trustees. “She’s one of the busiest retired ladies I know,” Claire Poynter, the library’s manager of youth services, told the newspaper.

Many children read aloud to Buchheister’s two Newfoundlands dogs in the library’s PAWS for Reading Program, in which children read aloud to the dogs. “She was warm and she made kids feel important,” Poynter said.

Buchheister was also active in Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester Hills and Therapy Dogs International; achieved Master Gardener certification and was a leader for numerous gardening projects in the Rochester communities; and was a volunteer trainer at Trainers Academy.

A memorial gathering of family and friends will be held from 1-8 p.m. Wednesday at Price Funeral Home,3725 Rochester Road in Troy.

The memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home. The family will receive friends an hour earlier, at 10:30 a.m. Inurnment will be at Guardian Angel Cemetery in Oakland Township.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester. The Rochester Hills Public Library is also planning to purchase and donate books in her honor.

» Read the full obituary on Price Funeral Home’s website.

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Photo: Elisabeth “Liz” Buchheister is pictured with Lucy, one of her Newfoundland dogs, in the PAWS for reading program at the Rochester Hills Public Library. (Photo Rochester Hills Public Library Facebook page)