Simon Bolivar "Chip" Buckner IV attended Southwest High School in Kansas City before earning a B.A. in Economics from Williams College and a J.D. from the University of Kansas. He practiced law in Tulsa, Oklahoma, then moved to Jefferson City to join the Missouri attorney general's office, where he had a variety of duties, including responsiblity for the state's consumer protection program. While there, he argued cases everywhere from traffic court to the the US Supreme Court. Chip returned to Kansas City to run the legal department and Bartlett and Company, a hundred year-old  agribusiness on the Plaza.

In addition to numerous short talks to Rotary Clubs, SCV camps and Civil War Roundtables about mint juleps and the relationship between Generals Buckner and US Grant, Chip was the featured speaker at the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the dedication of the Sterling Price statue in Keytesville, Missouri and shared the podium with former CIA director William H. Webster at the closing of the ceremonies marking the sesquicentennial of the Battle of > Perryville.

Chip's first exposure to the CWRT came in the mid-seventies when CWRT member (and later president) Glen Whittaker led a group of Boy Scouts on a 16-mile Battle of Westport hike.