It has been a sad few days along the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail between Cumberland and Pittsburgh.
Maynard Sembower, the man known locally as the “trail ambassador extraordinaire” and “number one volunteer”, passed away last Wednesday at age 100.
Those who have bicycled the GAP might remember him as the man who staffed the visitor's center at the Rockwood trailhead in the summer. He'd dispense information about lodging, camping and other services in high country of the bike trail, as well as share the local lore.
He became so well known along the Somerset County section of the bike trail that the office was renamed the Sembower Visitor Center.
The Somerset News-American says Sembower had a long association with the rail-to-trail that stretches some 150 miles from Cumberland to the Pittsburgh vicinity. He was happy to share it with anyone who stopped at the trailhead:
eventually lived four houses up from the trail. He often talked about
how he was born before the Western Maryland Railway decided to build a
railroad through the area. As a boy he watched the massive locomotives
roar down the tracks. As a man he observed the abandonment of the
railroad. Twenty years after he retired from the Pennsylvania Game
Commission, he saw the former railroad corridor being converted to a
biking and hiking trail. It was the mid-1990s and it was a good thing
for the area, he said.”
The Somerset County Rails-to-Trails Association website says he helped visitors to the trail since the Rockwood section opened in 1993.
from all parts of this country and other countries as well. People who
have visited the trail over the years will have one thing in common,
they will all remember that wonderful young-looking man that operated
the Rockwood Trailhead Sembower Visitor Center.”
Although it's sad news about his passing, it's good to read how one person can make a difference to a community.
Sembower is being remembered as someone who saw the value of the bike trail and helped make its history come alive to people riding through on bike tours.
Also at the Somerset County Rails-to-Trails website:
Expressions of sympathy may be sent to:
Mr. and Mrs. Roger and Carol Romesburg
Evergreen Drive
Rockwood, PA 15557
Memorial contributions may be sent to:
Somerset County Rails to Trails Assoc.
P.O. Box 413
Somerset, PA 15501
Photo above from SCRTA
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