LIFE, LIBERTY, AND LIBRARY for Alex Badenoch by Bert Nemcik Goodbye Alex. A month or so ago, I wrote to Alex, who was living with his daughter, Polly Post, in Warren, asking him why he was not writing his column any more. He wrote back saying that he thought it was time to retire from this work and pass on to someone else the responsibility of representing the village of Marienville, Forest County. He encouraged me to take on that responsibility. Now, when a man gives to another man something as important to him as his personal column, you can only imagine how special that might be to the receiver of such a gift. I did not want to do anything for awhile. I hoped that Alex would continue to write and not really retire. Most of all, I hoped Alex would get well and return to Marienville again. Two weeks later, Alex contributed his last article to the press. I imagine that all his loyal readers were pleased that he was able to continue to share his wit and wisdom with us again. This past week, Alex passed away after battling Lou Gehrig's Disease for several years. He was 80 years old. Ironically, he was born on Christmas Day. He never claimed there was any connection between him and the other famous person born on December 25. But anyone who knew this humble man, who was born in Scotland and emigrated to America when he was 12 years old, would surely believe there was. Alex was a member of our Marienville Presbyterian Church family. Every Sunday before the Sunday School, he made a mean pot of Scottish coffee. It was black and strong, and made your lungs burst with song. For years, he taught the adult Sunday School. Alex believed the Word, but continuously questioned all matters of faith. He was a devout man, who in his work as a log grader in the great forests, intimately experienced the wonders of God's creation. I once sat in with him at the Coffee Klatch, one of his favorite subjects. Everything he wrote about the characters who participated in this daily event was mostly true. My working every day makes it difficult to continue to monitor the men who made it so famous. Alex was a true renaissance man. He was a scholar without pretentiousness. "Library" was not part of his column just because it sounded nice. He read voraciously, and in any conversation with him, he would generally refer to something he was reading at the present time. He worked hard all his life in the lumber trade, traveled extensively, kept himself physically in shape by walking wherever he went, and continuously explored his faith, his belief in God, and the mysteries of the universe. He was eminently proud of his heritage, and thoroughly enjoyed genealogy, and exploring his and other peoples' roots. There are many men and women who walk the face of the earth, live their lives with integrity, and rarely become headline figures. After I returned today from his funeral, I sat on the couch in my living room, tears in my eyes, and contemplated my relationship with Alex and other such men in my life. My Uncle Ernie Warg came immediately to mind. He, like Alex, was a self- made man, the son of Hungarian immigrants, and a person who worked hard all his life as an electrician and water treatment specialist. But what made him the unique person that I remember, was his ability to create beautiful works of art. When I was sixteen years old, I once sat for him in an art class he frequented at the Butler Art Institute in Youngstown, Ohio, my home town. Fifteen artists worked for six weeks on my portrait. But only my Uncle Ernie was able to accurately portray a sixteen year old young man preparing to face the world. I often asked him why he did not pursue a career in art instead of doing what he was doing, but he would just smile and not say anything. The painting hangs on the wall in my home and every time I pass it I am reminded of that experience, and this other important person in my life. Alex and my uncle were those unique men who live in this world and work in quiet jobs, but are special because they go beyond themselves to learn, create, think and contribute to the betterment of the society they live in. I am still driving around in my uncle's 14 year old car that was willed to me. Every now and then when it breaks down, I get the urge to get a new car. But that would be contrary to what Uncle Ernie and Alex would have done. They would fix it and continue to use it until its usefulness was exhausted. Perhaps we are like that too. We continue to fix ourselves, change our plugs, so to speak, and keep on going until we are exhausted. At those moments when I despair, however, I remember that all through life, the way of truth and love has always won. The truth and love of these men lives on. How privileged I am to have had such renaissance men in my life. They are now gone in body, but in spirit they live inside of me and challenge me to continue to live with a sense of awe and wonder, live fully every day and experience the truth and beauty that is life in America. All of us, I'm sure, know men and women, who by their living example, challenged us to be better than they were, to struggle to overcome our human foibles, and ultimately reach our own human potential. I am not Alex Badenoch, or Ernie Warg, or anyone else. Life, Liberty, and Library was created by him that passed before me. But I hope to fulfill his wish, represent, Marienville, Forest County, and make the world a better place in which to live.