Living life to the fullest

OSGOOD - A smile that lit up a room. A strong work ethic. The first to offer a helping hand. The life of any party.

Alan Mescher was all of those things and more to his family and friends.

Mescher, 55, Osgood, died on Monday at Mercer Health Community Hospital, Coldwater.

Mescher was incredibly active on the Maria Stein Country Fest committee, sister Jane Meyer said Thursday. He'd been a part of the committee for more than 28 years after he joined at the prompting of some of the members of the Maria Stein Sons of the American Legion. He also was a member of the famous Country Fest Tractor Square Dancers for more than 25 years.

Country Fest was held this past weekend, and Mescher could be found on the grounds of the Maria Stein Shrine all three days of the festival, Meyer said, including on the tractor square dance arena.

"He was there all three days and danced the last dance on Sunday evening," she said. "He wanted family and friends to come from near and far to have fun and enjoy life" at the event, she said.

This year's tractor square dancing theme honored active and retired military personnel, which Meyer said was right up Mescher's alley. Mescher had a passion for veterans and was very patriotic, she said.

Mescher was a member of St. Nicholas Catholic Church, Osgood, and the St. Nicholas Men's Sodality. He also was employed at Tuente Trucking, and previously at Rethman Brothers.

Mescher was one of seven siblings, landing in the middle of his five brothers and one sister. Jeff Mescher, the eldest sibling, said his brother will be remembered for working as hard as he could play, and for being as ornery as he was kind.

"He was always one with a smile," he said Thursday. "He always had a way of cracking a joke and lightening the mood. He was the type to say 'Get the job done, then let's have a party.'"

Brian Mescher, the youngest of the seven siblings, said he and Alan were attached at the hip while he was growing up.

"Anything Alan thought I should be doing, he brought me," he said. "He'd bring me along on truck rides. I went with him everywhere."

Alan Mescher lived life to the fullest, and for him that meant helping others.

He volunteered for everything, his family said. If someone was in need, Alan Mescher was the first to offer help. Brian Mescher said his brother wasn't one to wait for anyone to ask for help - he'd already be on the way there.

"He'd volunteer to help you before you even asked for help," Brian Mescher said. "Anytime somebody needed something, he was there."

With the Sons of the American Legion, Alan Mescher helped with a Mother's Day barbecue chicken dinner fundraiser for a scholarship fund, and he was the co-founder of a softball tournament fundraiser that ran for about 15 years, his family said.

Alan Mescher also was a family man. His nieces and nephews knew him as Uncle Alan, the man with the green Ford pickup truck who always had candy in his side door.

He was creative, adventurous and energetic, his family said. Alan Mescher would concoct "challenges" for the family to start in the spring and finish before the annual family party in the summer. In the past eight or so years, that meant a sunflower growing contest - biggest, tallest, even which sunflower could make for the best mini golf club.

"He always thought of different ways to get everyone involved," Jeff Mescher said.

Above all else, Alan Mescher will be missed for his cheerful smile, his heart for service, his ability to bring people together and his immense love for his family.