I first encountered Al back in the 1990s at the old Spitzer Renaissance Hotel, where he was displaying a collection of vintage Lorain postcards. I was there with my parents, and was surprised when the gentlemen behind the event greeted my father by his first name (“Hi, Eddy!”). I guess everyone knew Al.
I officially met Al when I was just getting this blog off the ground. One day we were both in the local history area of the Lorain Public Library, and he struck up a conversation with me. He was doing some maintenance of his historical archives, which he had donated to the library to make them available to other researchers. His material filled a whole room of file cabinets.
Al helped me a lot with my blog. In recent years, the first email of the day that I received was usually from Al, contacting me about something that I had posted on the blog that day. He was always graciously thanking me for writing about Lorain’s history, and usually provided some reminisce or information that I would then add to the post to make it more complete. There are many posts that were enhanced with Al’s generous help.
Al always wanted to share information with me. A couple of years ago, he invited me to his house in Amherst so that he could provide me copies of things he had in his home files that he knew I was interested in. I enjoyed the hospitality of Al and his wife that wintery night. He would also, right out of the blue, send me a package in the mail containing copies of old articles that he thought I might find interesting.
At least Al made sure that all of his knowledge of Lorain’s history would not be lost when he passed on, by collaborating on a series of books with his friends and fellow historians. (I wrote about one of them here.) There was even a book entitled, The Life & Times of Al Doane – Memories of Lorain, which he wrote with his friends Matt Weisman and Paula Short.
Al was a nice guy and Lorain’s biggest champion of its history. He will be missed, and I offer my condolences to his wife and family.
4 comments:
Al Doane was a member of The Greatest Generation.This generation is considered to be from 1901-1927.The Greatest and the Silent Generations were the 2 best generations ever.Al's knowledge of Lorains past will never be equaled,because the kiddies of today just don't care about history anymore.Don't believe me?Well,just ask any kid of today who JFK was.They will look at you with confusion and bewilderment like you had asked them what's the secret to life or something like that.The world needs more Al Doanes to keep history in check.And especially as our Greatest and Silent Generation members are disappearing by the day,please take the time to listen to and cherish their words.Because when todays kids are on their deathbeds,they're last words won't be worth remembering at all.Sorry to sound so harsh,but it is so very true.Rest in peace Al Doane.The Greatest Generation just lost another "good one".
When I began working at the reference desk in 1990, Al was probably one of the first patrons I met. But honestly, Al was more than a patron; he was a resource and a treasure chest of Lorain county history. You are, by working on this blog, continuing in the finest Doane tradition - gathering and sharing information on our history.
Thanks, Cheri! I appreciate it.
We will sure miss Al. Thank you for posting this to honor him.
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