The most eloquent and probably one of the most interesting individuals I know, this gentleman is one of the often-overlooked treasures within the greater community. Whether it’s a humorous anecdote, quoting paragraphs of poetry or literature which were committed to memory in decades past, giving the engineering specifications for former structures throughout the area, or weaving an oral history of the Susquehanna Valley, each word that comes out of his mouth seems to have been precisely thought, timed, and prepared years before utterance. Just as a dry sponge in the desert eagerly engulfs every tittle of moisture with which is comes in contact, so, too, has he seemed to absorb with tremendous and enthusiastic curiosity every fact or scrap of information he could lay hands on.
When his time comes to shuffle off this mortal coil, he, his knowledge, and his mastery of language may not be missed by many, but the void will be felt in my heart.