BERNE — A revered member and leader of the Berne community, Paul Giebitz Sr., died Sunday  as he was riding his tractor, an activity he loved, on Old Road in East Berne. He was 89.  His death was accidental.

A remarkable man for many reasons — and for all seasons — Mr. Giebitz had great energy and vision. (Read the obituary).

The international success of Heldeberg Bluestone would not have happened without him. Bluestone quarrying  in the Hilltowns was nearly extinct when Mr. Giebitz saw an opportunity. A third generation of the Giebitz family is now managing the firm.

The East Berne Volunteer Fire company owes its existence in part to him. Mr. Giebitz was a charter member.

The East Berne Businessmen’s Association was started by him. And though it no longer exists, Berne Supervisor  Kevin Crosier says Mr. Gibietz always remained a great help and advisor  for anyone wanting to start a business, including himself.

“He was a great entrepreneur really, very forward-thinking in his business practices,” Croser said.

Crosier says Mr. Giebitz — who was a neighbor of his — “was never a man to retreat to a chair in the back of the house.”

Whether flying his Cessna 172 plane, which he flew from his own air strip, or mowing his hay fields or just enjoying the great outdoors of the Hilltowns, Mr. Giebitz was “always doing something,” Crosier recalls.

Crosier sees Mr. Giebitz  and his generation of Hilltowners as something special. “They don’t make them like that anymore….He was a patriarch of the town, a true leader of the community.”

Maybe only the Hilltowns could produce a man like Mr. Giebitz, Crosier speculated. “Maybe it’s the mountains that hold us together and that are an inspiration to us.”

Scott Duncan, chief of the East Berne Volunteer Fire Company, agrees that “Mr. Giebitz was one of a kind.”

On the company’s Facebook page, this tribute is posted:

“If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be who we are today. We are forever grateful for his dedication to making the East Berne Volunteer Fire Company great. Rest easy Paul, we'll take it from here.”

— Tim Tulloch