WEST WYOMING — When Mayor Joe Herbert saw former mayor George A. Nocek out in the community, he always felt he was in the company of a friend.
Upon hearing of Nocek’s death Sunday, Herbert took time to look back on their friendship.
“Early in my career, I would bump in to him and ask him, ‘Do you have a minute?’” said Herbert. “And he would always respond with, ‘What do you need?’”
When you’re doing a job for the first time, you appreciate a bit of advice from those who have gone before, Herbert said, and the job of being mayor was no exception.
Herbert said often when mayors leave office, they fail to cooperate with future mayors.
Not so with Nocek.
“He continued to serve the borough in which he lived and to be a team player,” said Herbert, who has been the borough’s mayor for 16 years.
“In addition to being the mayor, he was also a police officer, a constable and volunteer fire chief,” he added.
When Nocek became mayor, Herbert was in his 30s and newly married, having lived all of his life in West Wyoming.
Herbert saidm, as mayors of the borough, both he and Nocek were committed to serving the borough’s residents and staying in touch with their needs.
George Yurek, Nocek’s cousin, has fond memories of growing up in the borough when people were still born at home and the high school system had yet to be consolidated.
Still, to the 95-year-old Yurek, Nocek, who died at 86, was a youngster.
“I remember playing baseball with him,” he said. “We had to make our own baseballs.”
He also remembers Nocek as a football player and athlete.
“And don’t forget,” Yurek added. “He got to be mayor.”
Nocek is survived by his wife, Susan, and an extended family.
