NATCHEZ — Seventy-eight year-old John Buchanan was born and raised in Natchez, but lived all over the country before retiring from his manufacturing career.

The Dart found the retiree at his Natchez house this week. Buchanan’s travels took him a long way from Natchez before he ultimately returned a few years ago.

After serving his four years in the U.S. Navy, which took him to San Diego, Midway Island and Hawaii, Buchanan moved to Chicago during the height of the blues era.

Growing up in Mississippi, everyone listened to blues records, Buchanan said, and he imagined what the artists looked like.

When he arrived in Chicago, Buchanan asked a local whether he was truly in the hometown of Muddy Waters. He was told to walk down 45th Street to a place called Pepper’s Lounge.

“The band came out and started warming up,” Buchanan said. “Then the man on the microphone said, ‘Here’s Muddy Waters!’ And this tall, ugly fellow came out and I thought, well, where’s Muddy Waters?”

The man took the microphone and began to sing “40 Days and 40 Nights,” Buchanan said.

“That voice came out and I said, ‘Oh that’s Muddy Waters!’” Buchanan said, laughing. “And he was sure ugly.”

Buchanan said one of his regrets is moving away from Chicago just before the Bears were able to win the NFL championship in 1985.

One of the reasons he came home to Natchez, Buchanan said, was the death of his wife in 2011.

“One day, (Deborah and I) were talking, and she said she didn’t feel well and laid down for a while,” Buchanan said. “And she started talking to her (late) father, asking why he was there. Then she got quiet and never said another word.”

Buchanan’s two sons, Johnny and Willie, also live in Natchez. When his father moved home, Willie asked if he came back to Natchez to die, so he could be buried in the city cemetery with the rest of the family.

“(Willie) kind of brought some reality,” Buchanan said. “I said, ‘Now, where’d I get you from?’ But that’s how it happens. I came back because I’d been gone so long. I said I got Natchez on my mind. I’ve been everywhere else. Disappointing thing is there’s nobody left I used to know.”

Buchanan said he has struggled with the loss of many of his former Natchez friends, including the recent passing of Dave Mayberry.

“He was one of the last I used to know,” Buchanan said. “I don’t want to sound morbid, but facts are facts.”

In his Natchez retirement, Buchanan said he is enjoying the company of his sons and regular visits to his favorite hangout, where he buys all the pork sausage and hogshead cheese he’d care to eat.

“We have a lot of fun with it,” Buchanan said. “But in actuality, Willie was right.”