Besides working two jobs most of his life in order to provide for his family, Lewis B. "Bud" Barthels devoted much of his time to serving his borough.
"He had a lot of energy to do community service. He wasn't into getting recognition. He was into doing," said his lifelong friend, the Rev. Robert G. Pittavino. "He was a giver."
Mr. Barthels, of Smithton, Westmoreland County, died Monday, Dec. 26, 2005, at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Oakland. He was 80.
He was born June 28, 1925, in Smithton to the late Louis L. and Orpah Gail Barthels.
Mr. Barthels operated his family's funeral home and worked at a brewing company to supplement his income. He helped found and run Smithton's volunteer ambulance service and served on the local sewer authority board. In 2003, he was recognized as Smithton's Citizen of the Year.
He was a veteran of the Army Air Corps and the Air Force Reserve.
After graduating from Gettysburg College in 1950, Mr. Barthels went to mortuary school and became a licensed funeral director in 1954. He took up the family's business, L.L. Barthels Funeral Home Inc. in Smithton. At the same time, he kept the books for the Jones Brewing Co.
In the 1960s, when residents in small towns routinely called on funeral homes for emergency medical transportation, Mr. Barthels, along with a few others, decided to establish the Smithton Area and South Huntingdon Township Ambulance Service, said Mr. Barthels' son, Daniel K. Barthels.
For the 25 years it operated, Mr. Barthels fielded calls day and night and dispatched vehicles. One time, he was even called upon to help with a delivery, but the baby didn't wait long enough for Mr. Barthels to come and play midwife, his son said.
Mr. Barthels was on the Smithton Municipal Water Authority's board for 31 years and helped plan for the borough's sewage plant. He also served as treasurer for the Olive Branch Cemetery board and as a member of the Hoffman Cemetery board.
A passion of Mr. Barthels' was nut-bearing trees. He planted numerous chestnut, walnut and butternut trees on his family's 30-acre, wooded homestead, Daniel Barthels said. He left the scattered nuts, supplemented occasionally with store-bought field corn, to feed the deer and turkeys.
Mr. Barthels was a member of the American Chestnut Society, which aims to restore chestnut trees in the country.
Mr. Barthels was a member of Hope Memorial Lutheran Church in Smithton and served on the church council.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Elsie Mae Forsythe Barthels; a daughter, Nancy D. Poland, of Smithton; three sons, Lewis B. "Blair" Barthels II, of West Newton, Westmoreland County; Christopher Alan Barthels, of Elizabeth Township, and Daniel K. Barthels, of Smithton; a brother, Jack B. Barthels, of Avon Lake, Ohio; two sisters, Marilyn G. Mitchell, of Dunbar, Fayette County, and Alma G. Thrush, of Fallston, Md.; and eight grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today and Thursday at the L.L. Barthels Funeral Home, Second Street, Smithton, and from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday at Hope Memorial Lutheran Church, Second and Peer streets, Smithton, where services will be at 11 a.m. Friday. A Masonic service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Barren Run Cemetery, South Huntingdon.
Memorial contributions may be made to the church's endowment fund or to the state chapter of American Chestnut Society, 206 Forest Resource Lab, University Park, PA 16870.
