CHARLIE KNOTE HAD TALENT FOR FRIENDSHIP

Charlie Knote left us this week, and in doing so left saddened the many in our community who had to come to rely on him. Rely on him for what? Well, there was his unsurpassed knowledge of sausage making and barbecue and smoke cooking, for one. Charlie had achieved a well-deserved regional and even national reputation in this culinary field, becoming a teacher, an author and a noted judge of such contests far and wide.

There was leadership in his chosen field of entomology and pest control. This Purdue University graduate was a man of science, an original researcher and a true pioneer known throughout the industry. There was community service through the aforementioned cooking schools, through the Community Concert Association and so many other worthwhile causes. There was unselfish service to his God and fellow man through his beloved Presbyterian church.

Mostly, though, there was friendship. Charlie Knote had a talent for friendship. Knowing no distinctions of class, treating everyone he met exactly the same, here was a man altogether without pretension. He just couldn't wait to share all these enthusiasms with his many friends -- a category that was growing right up to the end, as he met and won new additions to that list.

Health problems slowed him down in later years, as they will most of us, but still he kept at it. Did your church or civic group need to feed, say, 400 or so? No problem. Just call Charlie and his beloved Ruth.

To her, and to his four children and his grandchildren, we join in extending the sympathies of a grateful community at the passing of this remarkable man.