Like thousands of other Erie Times-News readers, the first column I look at after retrieving my newspaper near the front door every morning is the list of local folks who've died.

I've had many readers tell me that have to keep subcribing to the newspaper because they wouldn't be able to get full obituaries on their friends, neighbors, relatives, business associates, etc., anywhere else. The obits provide new, but sometimes it's bad news.

My heart sunk this morning, for instance, when I spotted the name of my longtime friend, Dale Bargielski, who died Monday at the age of 57. Dale and I first met more than 30 years ago when he served as my younger brother Jimmy's little league coach.

One day, when none of the umpires showed up for the game, Dale asked if I'd call the balls and strikes behind the plate. I'd never done it before, but said I'd do my best. As luck would have it, I called out one of Dale's players as he slid across the plate with what would have been the tying run. It was the last out of the game.

Most of the kids and their parents were fuming, but Dale shook my hand and said, "Hey, thanks a lot for umping. We couldn't have had this game if you hadn't given up for time. Don't worry about the last call, either."

As Humphrey Bogart would say, it proved to be the start of a beautiful friendship. Dale and I would see each other often through the years. We both love the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians, and we attended many games together. For years, Dale would join us when the Indians sent players to Erie every January for the winter caravan gathering.

I always enjoyed visiting Dale at his business, Schutte Woodworking, where his crack team of craftsmen could take practically any piece of wood and turn it into a work of art. He restored pews for dozens of churched through the years, and after I admired a particularly handsome pew one day during a visit to his shop, he said, "Yeah, that's a beautiful piece."

A few days before Christmas, he stopped at our house and presented me with a completely restored pew -- about six feet long -- that was exactly like the one admired at his shop. It's still one of my most treasured possessions.

Another time, when I was in desperate need of somebody to move my mother-in-law's piano, I called Dale to see if he knew anyone who did that kind of work. "What's your mother-in-law's address?" he asked. Ten minutes later, Dale and five of his guys arrived there and moved the piano.

We drank beer together and shared a lot of laughs. Dale Bargielski was one of the best people I've ever known.

I actually enjoy reading about people's lives on the obituary pages of the Times-News. But I've been heartsick today, ever since I saw Dale's face and name in the last place I thought I'd ever see it.

-- Kevin Cuneo

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