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A faithful companion's sad, lonely sentinel

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

By Tom Gibb, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

NEW CENTERVILLE, Pa. -- David Faidley and his dogs were the tightest of friends.

It was almost a decade ago that he and Brutus, his German shepherd, went walking in a barely tamed bit of southwest Somerset County and happened between a bear cub and its protective mother.

Mama bear went into attack mode.

The equally protective dog treed her.

Even as age and ailments overtook them, Faidley and Brutus kept hiking -- Faidley to ease a back ailment, Brutus gamely following despite failing legs.

A year or two back, Brutus died. A younger shepherd named Sergeant became Faidley's close pal, and the bond was forged as tightly.

Sometime Monday, as Faidley, 56, and Sergeant walked through the woods about 30 feet above Laurel Hill Creek, Faidley slipped, probably on loose ground at the ravine's edge, state Trooper David Holtzman said yesterday.

He fell most of that 30 feet, coming to rest above the creek. Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller figures Faidley died instantly.

He was found midmorning yesterday, by younger brother Jimmy Faidley and his son, who combed state game land as volunteers from New Centerville Fire Company gathered to help.

"The dog was there with him, lying on top of him," Holtzman said. "He stayed with him the whole time. When help came, he didn't want to leave."

"They were very close, very good buddies," sister-in-law Sue Faidley said yesterday.

David Faidley knew the area intimately. He grew up there. And in the barely settled hills, about seven miles south of Seven Springs Mountain Resort, he and his wife were among only a handful of year-round residents in a land peppered mostly with hunting cabins.

Faidley, unemployed because of his back ailment, routinely walked the hills, Sue Faidley said. His wife arrived home early yesterday from her second-shift job to find he was not at home, but she had no idea where he was.