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Clayton Brukner's greatest gift to Troy was himself
EDITORIAL - By HARRIET HOWARD HEITHAUS, Associate Editor

To most people here, the name Clayton J. Brukner was simply a prefix to some of his better-known gifts to the community - Brukner Nature Center, the new wing at Stouder Memorial Hospital and the park behind the Troy-Miami County Public Library named for his brother Clem.

He was hardly the household word his many other contributions would have warranted.  Camera-shy and often preferring his donations to by anonymous, Brukner preferred to "look on" quietly while his "village turned city" as he said of Troy.  

To most of us, the man was one of the many we pass on the street with a nod and a hello, but that was exactly what Brukner wanted.  He had his chance to be "one of many" in Troy without losing his humanity - the friendliness that still characterizes the city was surely part of what kept him here 54 years after he and Sam Junkin put together their first biplane in a blacksmith shop on Union Street.

The mechanic-engineer-inventor-tinkerer found an element here that he apparently could reproduce nowhere else.  And the sole happy thought during this time of mourning is that people like the late J. Cameron Dungan and Brukner chose to stay with Troy and saw it as a city to nurture with their best talents.

But minds like theirs were universal in scope:  The loss to the city is part of a loss to mankind in general.  The innovative mind that made Brukner's inventions fly, split logs, and perform a host of other functions we now take for granted translated technology into new lives for all America in some way.

Most of us, having never known Brukner, will realize the loss to Troy, but will never understand the void left beyond the city limits here, the intelligence that matched itself against any problem, the dedication to find better ways than "satisfactory" to get things done.

Brukner was described once as a man who "has spent his entire life doing something useful."  As the beneficiaries of much of that energy, we can hardly repay the debt to Clayton J, Brukner; we an only appreciate his feelings for Trot and remember, when another stranger seeks our welcome, that the giver is always twice-blessed.

Transcription Notes:
Handwritten notes include a reference to Sam Junkin as "Elwood J." and "Father christened Janet Jenkins"