I had the privilege of meeting Vic Petrovics, father of the Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce, a couple of years after moving here. As volunteer for the Chamber, I wrote a newsletter column on one of his visits to a members' meeting in the summer of 2004.

In observance of his passing, Saturday, June 11, at age 95, I post an excerpt below:

Our speaker had a sore throat, but he was determined to deliver his message. We watched him stride across the room and pick up a bottle of fresh spring water. He took a sip. Then he turned back to his audience, to the Chamber membership, to the guests, to the City Council members, and to the City Administrator. He resumed his talk on Dunsmuir’s neglected gold mine.

“I was in my senior year of college when we first came to Dunsmuir,” said Vic Petrovics. “We came up by train. The first thing we saw was a fountain and a sign that said, ‘The Best Water on Earth.’ It was an impressive display.” He took another drink of water. His voice rasping with the effort, he described to us how the picture that framed Sacramento Avenue for him has lingered for over sixty years now.

“After I opened my pharmacy in 1935, people would come in with those words in their mouths. They would say to me that this town has the best water on earth. I began to repeat the words.” Other merchants did as well. The town bartender would suggest to customers who ordered bourbon and soda to try instead bourbon and water. Bourbon and The-Best-Water-on-Earth water.

Pausing again, he took a long swig from his bottle. Some of us without one felt a pang of thirst. “Just think about it. We had four fountains in town, all flowing with Dunsmuir water. We made it a talking point, with repetition. Best Water on Earth. Best Water on Earth. It was free advertising. It worked. People came to Dunsmuir just to taste our water.”

As he refreshed himself once more, another long drag, the thirst in the room grew tangible. It became more than a desire for a sip of fresh Dunsmuir water. It was a thirst for action. It was the desire to pull together City and Chamber and promote our town using a resource no economic woes could touch: our endless supply of water. We could crash back to 1929, perhaps beyond, but the water will always flow down the slopes of Dunsmuir.

In the quiet of that moment gears began to turn. You could see it in the eyes of the audience, from the pensive gaze of Chamber President Wayne Meredith to the glowing reverie of City Councilman Ivan Young. They looked individually inward, but they focused together on a common task. Together they looked at the water. The Best Water on Earth.

We began to brainstorm: restart the Pine Street fountain and hang upon it, and every other flowing monument in town, a sign or a plaque saying Best Water on Earth. Have it on every piece of advertising that leaves town. On anything associated with the City or Chamber. Our new member, Spirits, could have cocktail napkins taunting visitors with the question, “Have you tasted the Best Water on Earth?”

Vic was 88 then, and still fiercely promoting the town he loved.

The last time I saw Vic he was being helped out the door after the 2009 Citizen of the Year dinner. Though his frail and fading body lived on in Weed, his heart had always resided in Dunsmuir, Home of the Best Water on Earth.