E.G. Bell
I read in a recent paper about the ANF 100. That made me think of Doctor Robert and something I wrote a couple of years ago but was never published.
***
Time is relentless. It claws and scrapes at fabric and stitches leaving threadbare patches and frays in its wake. It overgrows. Obscures. Spend a summer not cutting your grass or pulling weeds. Where did your garden go? There somewhere but painfully out of sight. It does that to lives, families, histories, etc. Relentless. Resistance is futile but some people resist. Doctor Robert was such one.
My orbit overlapped Doctor Robert’s though I was only aware of him for about a decade. The man drove time to distraction. He was prolific. I found him by accident.
Robert was an author. I stopped counting at twenty books. He wrote a play; A movie screenplay; A book of poetry. He wrote fiction and non-fiction. Work related. History related. Religion related.
Robert was peripatetic. He got a severe backpacking infection during a camping trip with his brother. He wrote a book about it. He ‘suffered’ this ‘malady’ for years eventually walking the Appalachian Trail. The 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. He wrote a book about it. (This is a good one!)
He suffered a bicycle addiction. He would disappear for whole weekends on jaunts hundreds of miles around the area. Just as this fever was reaching its peak, he finished his doctoral program. Nine years part-time in his forties. Take that, time! Like that, he became Doctor Robert. PhD. He celebrated with a splendid new bike; And his longest bike ride, from Oregon to New Jersey. 2,800 miles. Time struggled to keep up. And he wrote a book about it. (This is also a good one!)
Robert wrote a weekly newspaper column for some thirty years. About pex. And popcorn. And politics. And religion. And solar power. Medical issues. Family. People. Serializations of his books. Humor. Science. Book reviews. This. That. Other things. Time seemed to lose track of him. He was everywhere. All the time. And he compiled about eleven years of his columns into another book. Something for everyone. About everything.
Robert was married in 1972 and had a son who, for a time, owned the Kelly Hotel in Marienville. Robert was Christian and that was often featured in his writing. Stories recounting retreats and congregation members. He was a humanitarian. Habitat for Humanity was his favorite charity, participating in at least two house-building projects. His cross-country bike trip helped raise enough money ($40+K) to build two houses.
Robert made history in the Forest and is credited with the idea that led to the aforementioned A-100, a 100-miles in 50-hour hike in the Allegheny National Forest. This event occurs every year. I believe Doctor Robert deserves a place in the Forest County History Center for this and his many other accomplishments. I have thought it ironic that there is a parking meter there and nothing commemorating the life of a Forest County whirlwind who never seemed to ‘park’.
Time caught up with Doctor Robert a couple of years ago. I’m sure, with all of the tracks he left across his orbit, that time is still pulling its hair out trying to erase them. But time is relentless. Robert gave it a run for its money.
When Robert came to the forest, he chose a different name. He thereafter went by Bert. Bert Nemcik. That is how I knew him. We conversed in email and occasionally on the phone. Once even in person at Perkins with Jim Brunner (Forest Clippings). There has not been a week go by since Bert’s passing that I have not thought about him as I submit my articles. There was so much to know and I did not get to spend more time with him. I know my presence in his orbit was small. As I learned more about him he became a hero of mine.
This was written shortly after Bert’s wife Cheryl passed away. I and my wife got to meet Cheryl a couple of times after Bert passed. She was a remarkable woman in her own right. Bert acknowledged that everything he accomplished was only possible because of Cheryl. I was hoping we (my wife and I and Cheryl) would have opportunities for building friendship. Time is relentless. Robbed again!
There are lessons in all of this. There are people in the forest who are much more than we realize. People like that are everywhere. Adding much to the world and the body of knowledge. To the forest. Time relentlessly obscures. Erases. Disrespects great and small alike.
I did not learn of any of Bert’s accomplishments until he was gone. I did not know of his books or travels. Adventures. Tracks through his time. The little I came to know was a lot in a Bert-less vacuum. Still just a drop in a bucket. I resolved not to let that happen again which is why I was able to meet Cheryl and some of the other contributors to the local news journals. I’m sure there are still opportunities I’m squandering, but I’m trying.
Time is relentless and demanding; Exhausting; Erasing; Obscuring. That is true for all of us whether we acknowledge it or not. Look closely at the person sitting beside you on the couch. Across the breakfast table. In the passenger seat. In the pew. Time is relentless. And limited.
While there is still time, take it. You don’t have to take gobs all at once. Spend it. You won’t feel the cost until you have none left. Time unspent becomes dead weight. You can take time. You can steal it from things less important. Sometimes you can even ‘buy’ time. But supply is limited and moments lost are lost. Time lost you cannot get back. The worst time is wasted time. If you think there is always time, you’re wrong. Opportunities are time-sensitive. Time is relentless.
