ASHLAND — Ashland lost a treasured friend — and one of its greatest storytellers — on Saturday with the passing of Bunyan “Bun” Wilson Jr., the 91-year-old attorney, family man and civic leader.

Here’s what you need to know about Bun Wilson: He was a proud man.

He was proud of his chosen occupation and proud of his service to the country as a United States Marine where he fought at Iwo Jima and Okinawa among others.

He was proud of his family — his wife, four lovely daughters and nine grandchildren, all whom he held so dear to his heart.

He was proud of his church, too. Bun was a lifelong member of First Christian Church, a deacon and an elder. He was someone you could count on for trusted counsel and big decisions.

And he was proud of his heritage, of his Ashland, his hometown. He never wanted to be anyplace else. Nothing else measured up.

He was an Ashland Tomcat football player from the 1930s era when only the strong survived. Toughness was the calling card of those Tomcats. The joke goes that they put holes in the side of the leather helmet so when the helmet got twisted around you could see out of them.

My interaction with Bun Wilson was, unfortunately, ever so brief. I knew his name as one of Ashland’s most respected attorneys and graduated high school with one of his daughters. But it wasn’t until about five years ago that I began to know him. It was during an interview for the 70th anniversary of Putnam Stadium. Bun was one of the last three surviving members of the first team to play in the stadium. The others were Ralph Felty and Charles “Doc” Stanley.

Ralph Felty was a lot like Bun — a Tomcat football hero and a United States Marine. Ralph and Bun were good friends who remained in touch for a lifetime. They are probably talking old Tomcat tales right now.

Since that interview in 2007, all three of these great men have died, with Bun being the last one.

They walked into Putnam Stadium (then actually called Tomcat Stadium) on that September Saturday in 1937 for a game against Ceredo-Kenova — a 22-0 victory, by the way — and felt like they were playing in the grandest place ever built. There were no lights yet — that wouldn’t come for seven more years — and the Tomcats stood on what is now the visitor’s sideline with the sun warming them as the visitors grew cold when the season moved to November on those cold Saturday afternoons (remember, it was before the Friday night lights were burning).

Even when these men were well into their 80s, Putnam Stadium’s aura tugged at their heartstrings. The place was like an old friend to them.

You can only be the first once and these ’37 Tomcats were that in that stadium. The twinkle never left Bun’s eyes from those days so many years ago, when he was a “shimmering beauty” as a 140-pound junior guard.

“It was like playing in Ohio State’s stadium,” Bun told me in that 2007

interview of when he walked into the stadium. “It was so overwhelming ... the cheerleaders, the supporters. We always had good crowds.”

Bun’s father, an attorney and civic activist as well, was on the school board in 1935 when a $15,000 bond was issued for the renovation of Putnam Jr. High School and to build the new stadium (at a cost of only $6,500). It took nearly two years to complete the project.

Of course, the hands that built the stadium as a WPA project back then did the job well. It opened as a showplace in the fall of 1937.

Bun said his father was impressed with the workmanship, especially the treated wooden seats and the picturesque setting that makes the stadium a one-of-a-kind even to this day.

When Bun was talking about those memories back in 2007 it was almost as if it had happened yesterday for him.

Seventy-five years after that first game was played, the Putnam Stadium Restoration Committee is working to give the place a needed facelift from the inside out at a pricetag of $5 million. I was thrilled the family asked that donations be sent in Bun’s name to the committee. I’m sure he would have liked that sentiment.

He was proud of being on that first Tomcat team and that pride was written on his face. The stories he told were descriptive, full of detail and life — a sports writer’s dream. Bun was clever, quick-witted and always smiling.

Once our initial meeting happened, he became another trusted source for a) information regarding Ashland’s past and b) a good story whenever I needed it.

Bun’s mind was keen even after failing health kept him from getting out as much as he wanted. His loving wife, Mary, always made sure she took him wherever he needed or wanted to go. She was such a sweet caregiver and the great woman behind the great man that seems to always be there.

We have lost an institutional gem with my dear friend’s death but he leaves behind the legacy of what a role model needs to be.

You don’t replace people like Bun Wilson. It’s impossible because he was an original from top to bottom and story to story. He was a man of integrity and honesty whose word was his bond. A trusted friend and neighbor. He gave attorneys a good name.

You only hope that some of the man he was rubbed off on those whose lives he touched in a very profound way.

If you met him once, that would be you.

Rest in peace, Bun.

Your hometown is sure going to miss you but rest assured will never forget you.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.