A line stretched down the hallway of the Pine Street United Methodist Church Monday as many came to say goodbye Fred Plankenhorn, a man who enjoyed life and giving back to the community and whose passion led him to become a local radio personality.
Looking back on his senior year of high school, Plankenhorn was involved in many clubs and activities, according to Dr. Frederic G. Sanford, who was friends with Plankenhorn since third grade and delivered the eulogy at Plankenhorn's memorial service.
Plankenhorn's extracurricular involvement followed him all through adulthood as he became very active in the community, with his main interest being children. He volunteered for Little League for 44 years of his life.
Steve Keener, president and CEO of Little League Baseball, and uncles from the organization sat near the front of the congregation as they said good-bye to their friend at the service.
"The amount of time he spent volunteering, I just don't know how a man had that much extra time to give. I don't know if his shoes can be filled. They certainly are huge. I knew him 30 years and didn't realize how many contributions he made to the community," said Jim Colburn, a long-time friend of Plankenhorn.
Plankenhorn was a fun, upbeat, outgoing and kind person who made people feel like they were important and meant something to him, according to Colburn.
Plankenhorn was the third generation president of his family-run business, Plankenhorn's Stationary, and a business man very concerned about the community he lived in.
His shoes will not be easy to fill as he gave back to the community tenfold, according to Vincent Matteo, president and CEO of the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.
Matteo said Plankenhorn became a sounding board for him. He helped Matteo to get to know the community when he arrived in Lycoming County to take over the chamber helm.
"He is going to be greatly missed. There are a lot of great people in this community. I don't think there is anyone who cares more and gave back more than Fred. He loved this community," Matteo said. "He just was the kind of guy who made everyone feel at ease. He offered advice when you asked for it, and it was always good sound advice."
"He was a leader," Matteo added.
Just about everyone said Plankenhorn was a great person to be around.
"He was fun," was echoed by numerous people at the memorial service as they recanted memories that generally had a humorous twist or flashback to his days growing up on Harding Avenue in the city's east end.
Although Plankenhorn was a business man, it was not his passion. Plankenhorn's love of radio began in high school and followed him a lifetime, according to Sanford.
Sanford and Plankenhorn would perform conversational skits for their classrooms when they were youngsters, according to Sanford.
Plankenhorn's artistic flare carried over into high school when he began pursuing radio, a passion that followed him the rest of his life, according to Sanford.
"When we went to high school, he went into radio big time and live productions in class," Sanford said.
Plankenhorn became a radio personality called the "Memory merchant," who's specialty was oldies.
He would do extensive research about events from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s for use on his radio shows. At the time of his death, he had a Saturday night show on WQBR-FM that had been on the air since 1998.
"In the end, he did it his way, as we all expected he would," Sanford said. "We should all be thankful for the life of Fred Plankenhorn."
