Phil Thiel, recently departed, was in some ways mystifying. His life comprised several eras. He won fast friends in each. In his all too brief 65 years Phil was an altar boy, an Eagle Scout, a college dropout, a world traveler, a cooperatives advocate, a bioregional organizer, a hippie carpenter, an environmental activist, a writer, editor, and publisher, a champion of renewable energy, a caterer, a shopkeeper, a gonzo sports fan, a connoisseur of wine and liquor, a gourmand, and Cedar Michigan’s Mardi Gras King, circa 2014. This past March 8 he was felled by a cardiac event outside the Long Lake home his mother shared with him.