| A native Georgian, Rep. Buckner grew up in Columbus and lived there until she married
and moved to Talbot County in 1976. She was first elected to the Georgia General Assembly
in 2002. Currently serving in House District 137 which is comprised of all of Talbot county,
and portions of Harris, Meriwether, the eastern part of Muscogee County and Fort Benning.
Rep. Buckner serves as a member of the Ways and Means, Natural Resources &
Environment, Retirement, and State Institutions & Property committees. As a freshman
legislator, she served as secretary of the State Institutions & Properties Committee, a
member of the Health & Human Services Committee, and was the only freshman to serve
on the Natural Resources & Environment Water Subcommittee. She has served as an
assistant to the Majority Whip and then as assistant to the Minority Whip. She was the
House Democratic Caucus Secretary and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Rural Caucus.
Rep. Buckner is the Former Director of Community Benefit at Columbus Regional
Healthcare System, having previously worked for Doctors Hospital as the Director of
Community Relations and the Columbus Health Department as Senior Public Health
Educator.
She earned a BS Degree in Health Science from Columbus State University and attended
Georgia Southwestern College for postgraduate work and to earn a teaching certificate.
Rep. Buckner is a Board Member of Twin Cedars, which provides programs and services to
children and their families in Columbus, LaGrange and Macon, is currently serving as Board
Chair of Three Rivers AHEC, a Board Member and Past Chairman of the West Central
Georgia Cancer Coalition, a member of the Network for Professionals and Executives,
member of the Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Association Board and serves as member of
the Easter Seals Board and the Safe Kids of Columbus Board.
Her community service has included volunteering for the American Lung Association of
Georgia, Columbus-Ft. Benning Chapter of the American Cancer Society, Girl Scouts,
Columbus Hospice, the Jekyll Island Foundation, the Valley Collaborative for Suicide
Prevention and Historic Talbotton Foundation.
In 2004, she was inducted into the Gracious Ladies of Georgia, was named Legislator of the
Year by the Georgia Rural Health Association, was presented the American Heart
Association's Outstanding Advocate Award, and received the American Cancer Society's
Outstanding Legislative Leadership Award for 2003 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006, she was
recognized by the Georgia Alliance for Tobacco Prevention. In 2006, the Georgia
Environmental Council honored her as the Legislator of the Year. In 2008, The Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island State Park named her Georgia State Representative of the Year, and the
Georgia Conservation Voters honored her with an Environmental Leadership Award in
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012. The Upper Chattahoochee River presented her with
the River Legislator Award in 2010. In 2012, Rep. Buckner received the "- Ernestine Aurelia
Mack Service to Mankind" award from the Gamma Tau Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa
Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Also in 2012 she was named Georgia State Retirees
Association Legislator of the Year. In 2014 she was honored by the Meriwether County
NAACP for outstanding service and served as the Parade Grand Marshall.
Representative Buckner is married to Mike Buckner, and they live at Fielder's Mill, in
Talbot County, which is one of the few historic, operational, grist mills in the state of Georgia. They have three children. |