Since he was elected in 1994, Mayor Bill Welch served as State College's keeper of history, a face for the borough and a figurehead deeply committed to his morals.

Welch understood the life of a public servant and public representative. We at the Collegian will sincerely miss him.

Collegian reporters always adored calling the unofficial State College historian and hearing his stories of life in the borough.

When the Starlite Drive-In was sold during the summer of 2007, he reminisced about watching movies there as a teenager.

"It used to be a teenage dating crowd, the passion pit," Welch said in August 2007. "Now it's more of a family crowd."

When The Diner closed for a few days in August 2007 after health code violations, Welch reflected on the restaurant's history.

"My roommates and I would end up in there at 3 in the morning for pancakes and syrup and end up with heartburn," he said with a laugh in 2007.

When businesses came and went from the borough, when council hammered out new ordinances, when town residents bemoaned students' bad behavior, the longtime mayor had years of institutional memory to draw upon.

And Welch wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He kept a steadfast commitment to his morals and never shied away from defending those principles.

Famously, he presided over a 2008 commitment ceremony in the HUB-Robeson Center, joining together four gay and lesbian couples. When Connecticut legalized gay marriage, Welch said he was pleased to hear about the decision.

"This will make a lot of folks happy," Welch said in October 2008. "It's what I always say -- let them join in on the pain of marriage."

He never held back when telling students and residents his thoughts about drinking behavior, especially around State Patty's Day.

"Bottom line: I'm against State Patty's Day," Welch said in March 2009. "People don't need any more excuses to go out and get drunk and endanger themselves and others any more than usual."

And as Happy Valley's top representative, Mayor Welch helped cement town-and-gown relations. When participating in the Living In One Neighborhood (LION) walk, Welch joined other off- and on-campus leaders to meet with borough residents at their doorsteps. He understood the delicate harmony necessary for the university to coexist with the borough.

"It's not just the borough of State College but wherever the misty horizons of Happy Valley may lie, and I think it's more a state of mind than a geographic location," Welch said in August 2008.

Mayor Welch leaves behind big shoes to fill. His tenure in the borough's top office exemplifies ideal mayoral traits.

When someone dies, it's a reminder that we're only human. Mayor Bill Welch used his 67 years to be a public servant, a spokesman, a community historian. May his years be an example to all, encouraging us to use our lives to give back to our communities.

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Rossilynne Skena is a senior majoring in journalism and women's studies and is The Daily Collegian's editor-in-chief. Her e-mail address is editorinchief@psucollegian.com.