I didn’t know Layne Conrad’s middle name was Burton, otherwise I would probably have razzed him about being related to Richard, or some such nonsense. I didn’t know he had served as an army reservist. I didn’t know he had been a scoutmaster, or a church treasurer. But all of these things fitted perfectly with the Layne we knew, the bright, smiling, and highly energetic man living in Mansfield with his equally sunny and wonderful wife, Ellie. Mike and I met Layne when he came out of retirement to become one of the faces of Mountain Home, delivering our magazines from 2007 to 2020 while making friends all around the Finger Lakes as the magazine’s ambassador. Layne, born on February 7, 1938, passed away from lung cancer on March 26. His loss is still echoing in our hearts.

When I asked our associate publisher, Lilace, if Layne was still working for us when she came aboard at Beagle Media, she said no. It was a shock to me, because when people become essential in your life you can’t imagine a time without them, and to me Layne was always around. But Layne had already gone into real retirement by then, to have more time for travel and dancing and dining—and grandkids. But Lilace knew him well enough to call it perfectly: “He was joyous.” She saw him and Ellie everywhere: at Hamilton-Gibson plays, at performances at the Clemens Center in Elmira, and the Deane Center in Wellsboro.

Those of you who don’t know our joyous Layne from seeing him with a pile of Mountain Homes in his hands might remember him from those venues, or from the Endless Mountain Music Festival, where he and Ellie, as fervent music lovers and season pass holders, were constant presences. I can still see his beaming face at the concerts, full of the music of the moment. I didn’t realize how much that music meant to him. Memorial contributions in his name can be made to Endless Mountain Music Festival, 130 Main Street, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania 16901.

RIP, dear friend.