Submitted by Susan Schaefer, Riverview Tower Resident

Photo credit: ©2015 Susan Schaefer

The Last Cigarette

Saturday 10/3/15 10PM

I felt privileged to have had a slice of time with the man in the top hat and tails who has been a West Bank fixture for years, and my neighbor. Today, returning from a photo shot at Mill City Farmer’s Market I felt an uncanny pull as I walked by his infamous encampment directly next to my building, Riverview Tower, tucked under the 10th Avenue Bridge. Had I done as my entire being was directing me, I might have become the last person to see the man so many Twin Citians know as Chester alive. But I didn’t follow my instincts. And tonight, after an evening out with friends at Seven Corners, I returned home to find law enforcement quietly conducting their business exactly at Chester’s outlier campsite home. I knew without even asking that this man whom I photographed was no longer among us.

I am sure the formal details will emerge, but it seems he died of natural causes.

According to our building’s evening attendant, his female companion of years, Marcia, asked to call the police, explaining that she had found Chester “cold and motionless”.

Most old timers in our building had a great fondness for this enigmatic outsider who rode a bicycle throughout the West Bank and Dinkytown, most often soliciting change from passersby. But the afternoon I snapped my portrait on a Dinkytown corner, Chester had just given his last cigarette to another homeless young man. That’s the only Chester I knew. I hope there’s a peg in heaven for his top hat.

Drs Susan Schaefer, APR, is a communications consultant, executive coach, corporate trainer, university professor, writer, published poet, and former newspaper editor and publisher.

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Editors Note -

Here is a Star Trib article about Chester (a.k.a Bruce, a.k.a. Charlie) from May, 2014 - Chester's West Bank Hideaway is Changing.

In case you're not familiar with Chester's home camp, it's located under the 10th Avenue Bridge on the Midtown Greenway bike route by the Bluff Street Park. Dave took these pictures this morning, October 4:

A couple of videos from one of our Facebook followers: