it's not easy writing a story about a man who you've never met...
... especially one just after he died. But, that was my task Tuesday. Here's the result:
****
By Matt McNabb
STAFF WRITER
Paolans may not have known his name, but anyone who has lived here in the last 23 years probably knew George Cartwright.
Many people might not connect the name with the person - a short man in glasses, often donning some sort of hat, “a friendly person with a big smile on his face,” said Bob Nicholson, Cartwright’s guardian - but they knew him.
He was the city’s unofficial mayor. He prided himself on his caretaking of lawns, and was often seen getting around town on a riding lawn mower, pulling a trailer containing the tools of his trade.
“It was kind of a mission project for him, to help others,” Nicholson said of Cartwright’s lawn work.
Cartwright, on his mower and pulling the trailer, also was often spotted in the Miami County Fair Parade.
“He loved the parade,” Nicholson said. “He liked to watch, but he loved to be in it.”
Besides work, mowing lawns satisfied two more of Cartwright’s loves - being outdoors and meeting people.
He was a familiar figure in the Miami County Republic’s office on Pearl Street every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, coming in to purchase newspapers for businesses on the Square, even on Sept. 8, two days before his death.
Cartwright, 62, died unexpectedly Friday in his apartment at Maple Vista, where he had lived since 1992, when he moved out of an apartment on Paola’s Park Square.
His death came as a surprise to those who knew him. When he wasn’t seen over the past weekend, people around town knew something was amiss.
He was first discovered by friends, Nicholson said. They arrived at his apartment to pick him up to go to the demolition derby Saturday evening at the Miami County Fairgrounds.
Extremely high cholesterol caused Cartwright’s death, Nicholson said. It was a health affliction that ran in his family. If it wasn’t for his exercise, walking and lawn-mowing, he probably would have died years ago.
“People didn’t know that he’d been on borrowed time for about the past four years,” he said. “We didn’t make a big deal out of it.”
After the condition was diagnosed, Nicholson had told Cartwright, “Go live. Go do it until you can’t do it anymore.”
That moment came Friday.
**Subheads:A friend to all
**Body Copy: Cartwright may have moved off the Square in 1992, but he did not become any less of a fixture on its sidewalks and at its businesses.
He had quite a few regular haunts, Nicholson said. Cartwright was well-known at Miller Pharmacy, Beethoven’s Restaurant and Lucy Locket’s, and at Asher Pharmacy before it moved and TravelLine before it closed.
“He’d come over here and say he was over at TravelLine visiting with his girlfriends,” Nicholson said. “That was his thing. He loved to talk to people.”
“There ya go,” he’d often tell those he engaged in conversation, covering anything, Nicholson said.
“It just depends on what he had just heard from somebody else,” he said.
Cartwright couldn’t remember names very well, but he knew people, remembered faces, what they did. And if Cartwright didn’t know someone, that didn’t stop a conversation from starting, turning that stranger into a friend.
Nicholson remembers picking up Cartwright at the coin laundry on Lewis Drive. As Cartwright came outside, he was wrapping up a conversation with a man inside the building.
When asked who the man was, Cartwright said he didn’t know, but they had been talking for quite some time.
“He’d talk to everybody at the laundry, whether he knew them or not,” Nicholson said.
In his years living at Maple Vista, Cartwright had befriended a number of other residents, Nicholson said. Even on Friday morning, Cartwright had helped some of the women empty their trash. In exchange, they would help him with laundry or maybe prepare a meal.
Employees at Miller Pharmacy would help Cartwright select cards to send to friends and family around the holidays. After each meal at Beethoven’s, the cookie was usually on the house.
“The community was just so great in supporting George,” Nicholson said. “He couldn’t really have lived as well as he did without the whole community helping him.”
****
By Matt McNabb
STAFF WRITER
Paolans may not have known his name, but anyone who has lived here in the last 23 years probably knew George Cartwright.
Many people might not connect the name with the person - a short man in glasses, often donning some sort of hat, “a friendly person with a big smile on his face,” said Bob Nicholson, Cartwright’s guardian - but they knew him.
He was the city’s unofficial mayor. He prided himself on his caretaking of lawns, and was often seen getting around town on a riding lawn mower, pulling a trailer containing the tools of his trade.
“It was kind of a mission project for him, to help others,” Nicholson said of Cartwright’s lawn work.
Cartwright, on his mower and pulling the trailer, also was often spotted in the Miami County Fair Parade.
“He loved the parade,” Nicholson said. “He liked to watch, but he loved to be in it.”
Besides work, mowing lawns satisfied two more of Cartwright’s loves - being outdoors and meeting people.
He was a familiar figure in the Miami County Republic’s office on Pearl Street every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, coming in to purchase newspapers for businesses on the Square, even on Sept. 8, two days before his death.
Cartwright, 62, died unexpectedly Friday in his apartment at Maple Vista, where he had lived since 1992, when he moved out of an apartment on Paola’s Park Square.
His death came as a surprise to those who knew him. When he wasn’t seen over the past weekend, people around town knew something was amiss.
He was first discovered by friends, Nicholson said. They arrived at his apartment to pick him up to go to the demolition derby Saturday evening at the Miami County Fairgrounds.
Extremely high cholesterol caused Cartwright’s death, Nicholson said. It was a health affliction that ran in his family. If it wasn’t for his exercise, walking and lawn-mowing, he probably would have died years ago.
“People didn’t know that he’d been on borrowed time for about the past four years,” he said. “We didn’t make a big deal out of it.”
After the condition was diagnosed, Nicholson had told Cartwright, “Go live. Go do it until you can’t do it anymore.”
That moment came Friday.
**Subheads:A friend to all
**Body Copy: Cartwright may have moved off the Square in 1992, but he did not become any less of a fixture on its sidewalks and at its businesses.
He had quite a few regular haunts, Nicholson said. Cartwright was well-known at Miller Pharmacy, Beethoven’s Restaurant and Lucy Locket’s, and at Asher Pharmacy before it moved and TravelLine before it closed.
“He’d come over here and say he was over at TravelLine visiting with his girlfriends,” Nicholson said. “That was his thing. He loved to talk to people.”
“There ya go,” he’d often tell those he engaged in conversation, covering anything, Nicholson said.
“It just depends on what he had just heard from somebody else,” he said.
Cartwright couldn’t remember names very well, but he knew people, remembered faces, what they did. And if Cartwright didn’t know someone, that didn’t stop a conversation from starting, turning that stranger into a friend.
Nicholson remembers picking up Cartwright at the coin laundry on Lewis Drive. As Cartwright came outside, he was wrapping up a conversation with a man inside the building.
When asked who the man was, Cartwright said he didn’t know, but they had been talking for quite some time.
“He’d talk to everybody at the laundry, whether he knew them or not,” Nicholson said.
In his years living at Maple Vista, Cartwright had befriended a number of other residents, Nicholson said. Even on Friday morning, Cartwright had helped some of the women empty their trash. In exchange, they would help him with laundry or maybe prepare a meal.
Employees at Miller Pharmacy would help Cartwright select cards to send to friends and family around the holidays. After each meal at Beethoven’s, the cookie was usually on the house.
“The community was just so great in supporting George,” Nicholson said. “He couldn’t really have lived as well as he did without the whole community helping him.”