** Reprinted from Skaneateles Press, February 26, 2003 **

Homeland Security Chief – Borodino Style
By Mary Soderberg

On any hot summer's day along about one-o'clock one can hear the truck navigating the familiar bumps and ruts in the road, then the slam of a door. A man and dog pick up speed as they tear through the house, and down the steps to the lake. Bunt Osborne lets out a "whoop" and takes a running dive off the end of the dock, followed with the large splash of his canine companion, Tippie. Bunt is home for lunch, soon heading back to the fields. I always wave at any man I see driving a tractor in the Borodino area in case it is Bunt.

A few minutes later Bunt, the farmer, is sitting beside his wife Mary Lou at the picnic table facing the water, the gathering spot for the Osbornes since I first knew them in the late forties.

Our great grandchildren are the fifth generation in our family to whom the smooth shale bottomed lake means summer. And Bunt's parents had been next door long before we came on the scene. He and his sister carol Ackles now own the cottage jointly and when they get their two families together the number is 27. Bunt and Mary Lou have three children and 7 grandchildren. Bunt and Mary Lou met on a blind date at Syracuse University. It was thought wise at that time to take aptitude tests to determine what direction your career should take. Bunt's test results all pointed toward agriculture. So he left S.U. and completed his studies at Cornell. He has become not only a farmer but bears the accolade, "steward of the soil." He is presently the Onondaga County Representative for the Skaneateles Lake Watershed Agricultural Program.

Somewhere along the way, he joined the Navy and was stationed in the Galapagos where his assignment, as an electrician's mate was to show four movies a night. (I wonder what giant turtles thought of that?) The day after Mary Lour graduated from S.U. they were married and bought the farm in Borodino, and he has farmed ever since.

It seems to me he is a steward in other areas of his life as well, Rotarian, Borodino Grange supporter and all those pancake breakfasts and chicken barbecues! The cottage Owners Association, to which he belongs, has only one subject for discussion at every meeting: The condition of the road. After the usual complaints everyone looks at Bunt and he says, "I'll take care of it." About the time we were ready to hand over our cottage to the next generation, a family of raccoons took over the top floor of the boathouse and destroyed it. I turned to Bunt for help. He said he knew some fellows and they'd see to it and they did. I never asked who or how.

Bunt served as the Borodino Fire Chief for many years. It is always comforting to live next door to a fireman. Taking care of the road also meant making sure the trees along it were cut back to allow for the fire truck to get through if necessary.

They didn't need a truck but they sure needed Bunt on the night of July 3 about 4 years ago. The violent storm, which suddenly swept down the lake, destroyed boats, carried off docks, broke windows and inspired pure terror in all those celebrating along the shores. The call came in to the Borodino Fire Department over a cell phone – a woman and her daughter were stranded on a boat moored at the sailing club near Bunt's cottage. He ran down to find a rowboat and set off through the howling storm and brought them safely to shore. The woman had left her purse on the boat so Bunt went out again to retrieve it! That was a wild night on Borodino Bluffs.

In quieter times he loves to sail. His boat may not be as splendid as some, but no one has a better time. He drove a school bus for many years, a steward of those young lives, and then the Ski Club came into being. Never having skied, he learned and is a Certified Ski Patrol Instructor. He also happens to manage the club and plows it out!

Now Bunt, the organist, has always had music in his life. He has been organist at the Skaneateles Presbyterian Church for 38 years, succeeding his own Auntie Bea Klumpp. His mother was choir director and now his son Bruce is the organist at St. James where his nephew Brian is choir director. Bunt took lessons for years studying, among others, with Dave Johnson at a church on Salina Street where he learned organ repair and tuning. His teacher would take him into the loft and show him how to stuff a sock into a pipe to change its tune. After a lot of years, with Bunt involved all the way, coddling and patching up the old organ, the church has a new Cassavant organ built for it in Canada, which is being installed now for its grand debut on Palm Sunday with Bunt at the keyboard. He says it will be the thrill of his life and the beauty of the wood is such it will be just as beautiful 500 years from now. No one will be more pleased to hear the sound than Mary Lou.

Mary Lou, now there's another story. But this has been about Bunt who lives his life as a good steward of his and our homeland, and all that implies, here in Skaneateles.

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