My friend and neighbor Bernie Langer died yesterday, and I will miss him very much. I met Bernie, who lived in the village of Springdell, when I started going to West Marlborough township meetings. He was a fixture at those meetings, even bringing along his little oxygen tank when he needed it in the past few years. He had an opinion about every township issue: when the "public comment" portion of the meeting arrived, every eye went straight to Bernie.
Bernie was a dog lover, a former fox hunter, and a family man; he was active at St. Michael Lutheran Church. He was a great storyteller and loved talking about "the old days." During a recent lull in a meeting he told me about how as a youth in New England he would cut ice on ponds. He had lived all over the world and had a huge range of interests (Thai food was a favorite topic). In July I wrote about the serpentine barrens in Nottingham, and he brought to the next township meeting some little vials containing rock specimens. Another time he and his wife Claudette gave me an orchid plant that he had won as a door prize; he thought it had a better chance of survival at my house than his.
West Marlborough will not be the same without you, Bernie. Rest in peace, my friend, with your beloved dogs and your son Michael.
Very nicely put!
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