BIO: Robert F. Bankert, Tillard Pen Pictures, 1911, Blair County, PA

Contributed April 2003 for use in the USGenWeb Archives 
by Judy Banja <jbanja@comcast.net>

Copyright 2003.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/
_________________________________________ 

                Pen Pictures of Friends and Reminiscent Sketches
                                by J. N. Tillard

             Altoona, PA: William F. Gable & Co., Mirror Press, 1911 

                          Soldier, Citizen and Friend

                ROBERT F. BANKERT Has Always Stood in His Place,
          Performing The Work of The Hour Without Reference to Reward

WHAT old resident of this county does not know W the genial "Bob" Bankert? 
The great vote  given him for the office of county commissioner at the 
primaries last spring without any effort on his part to speak of seems to 
indicate that his acquaintance is large and his friends many.
  Mr. Bankert is not a time-server or a seeker for popularity, but he can no 
more help being friendly than the flower can avoid turning to the sun. He was 
born with a great flow of the milk of human kindness in his system and it has 
been exuding ever since as naturally as juice flows from the grape. Geniality 
only comes to some men as the result of patient and long-continued 
cultivation, but with Robert it is spontaneous. And, after all, the 
cultivated brand of good fellowship is apt to be a good bit of a counterfeit 
with so much of interested self-seeking in its composition as to reveal the 
fraud everytime the fur is stroked the wrong way. It don't wear well and 
breaks down at critical junctures. Stress and strain tries it out and only 
the man who has been through the rough places of life with his attitude 
toward his fellows unchanged, and the kindly smile still on his face, is 
entitled to be regarded as a lover of his kind.
  The subject of this sketch has seen the rough places, all right. He started 
the rough house business when he was quite a young fellow by enlisting in the 
army of the United States when there were things doing. There was mighty 
little time for dress parade, and even had conditions been otherwise, he was 
not that kind of a soldier. He did not go to war because he was struck on his 
shape or was hunting trouble because of his size, but when fighting men were 
wanted he felt as big as anybody else, or at least figured that an army 
musket would shoot as straight, hard and effectively for a little fellow as a 
big one, and not being loaded down with an excess of avoirdupois, he could 
probably carry the aforesaid musket farther on a day's march in pursuit of 
the enemy than the other fellow. In any case, he fought it out, and his 
children and children's children may be proud of his record. He did not go 
into the conflict blindly, but knew what he was contending for, and every 
minute of the time he knew what he was at. If you have any doubt about that, 
just ask him about any particular battle of the number in which he was 
engaged and you will be impressed with the idea that he was master of the 
situation and probably looked it over with just as much intelligence as did 
his commanding general.
  But he was essentially a man of peace, and when the unpleasantness was over 
he came home to play the part of the good citizen, and he has been no more of 
a fake in that capacity than he was as a soldier. Life with him was real and 
earnest, and in his sphere he has lived up to its possibilities. He never 
assumed anything, but day by day "hoed his own row" with diligence and 
intelligence.
  As an employe in the railroad shops, he performed his work in a way that 
won the esteem and respect of his superiors and the hearty good will and love 
of his associates. And he is still at it, neglecting nothing, shirking 
nothing. Though the election is but a short way off, and he is a candidate, 
the duty of the hour in the railroad shops has the first call and his head is 
not swelled by the idea of political preferment. He stands in his place, 
performing the duty that claims his attention with the feeling that his 
fellow-citizens have sufficient good judgment and common sense to pick that 
kind of a man to serve them, knowing that he who is faithful to his trust in 
an humble capacity will not be found wanting in larger fields. It is not the 
most eager man that always makes the best public official, though 
unfortunately for the community he not infrequently picks the plum. The man 
who does his work well today in the obscure place is the fellow who can be 
depended upon to stand firm amid the temptations of public life, serving his 
fellows with the same fidelity and zeal that characterizes all his efforts. 
The man who wants a public office because he has been a good bit of a failure 
in other pursuits is apt to show the yellow streak when the pinch comes in 
the public place.
  The writer hereof saw Mr. Bankert at work among the dead and helpless 
immediately after the Johnstown Flood. He was not there for reward, but as a 
volunteer in the hour of need. While others were scheming to get out of it 
what might be had; he was day and night - scarcely stopping for food or sleep 
- working with might and main to relieve the suffering, rescuing mangled and 
horribly distorted bodies from that awful wreck and ruin and preparing them 
with the meager means at hand for decent burial. He was a mighty big man 
there, even though he was small of stature. Never for a moment losing his 
head, he always knew the next thing to do and could devise the ways and means 
out of the chaotic conditions to do it.
  Whenever a distracted relative on the verge of madness had utterly failed 
to find the poor comfort of the lost body of the loved one, we always told 
them to see "Bob" Bankert, and he could generally give the desired 
information. It was nasty work for the squeamish, and most of the multitude 
were only there to look on in idle curiosity, but Mr. Bankert had gone to 
render aid and he was a most effective helper. It was a good place to get the 
proper perspective and accurately measure the size of a man, and he measured 
up to the requirements. So long as he lives on the earth, he is not likely to 
ever fall down in a matter of trust.
  He has never dabbled in politics very much. He was not particularly 
attracted by the game. While he served the city well and faithfully for four 
years in city council two decades ago, his ambitions never set that way. He 
didn't like the spot-light well enough to make strenuous efforts to get into 
it, and so far as the emoluments were concerned he was making a living at 
pursuits that were more congenial.
  Mr. Bankert is a good example of the type of citizen that has given the 
country stability. Always concerned more about his duties than his rights, he 
has given freely of his best efforts for the good of his kind, and when the 
end comes he will be entitled to have written above his name by the angel who 
records the deeds of mortals, "He Loved His Fellow-Men."

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