Hoby Wolf knew more than he would let on at times, and it seems he even knew when it was his time to go.

While relaxing by the fire and eating dinner at his home on Saturday, Feb. 13, Hoby looked over to his wife of 49 years, Pat Wolf.

"I can tell you the ending is just as wonderful as the beginning," he told her. "Every day is just as good."

Of course, his wit kicked in. Hoby always said he and his wife were like George Burns and Gracie Allen.

"Gee, I hope that's not a precursor of something to come," he told his wife.

"I said, 'I hope not either,' " she said.

Monday, he wanted to get up early and shovel the driveway for his wife before heading to his office to write his column.

"The last thing I said was, 'You don't have to get up so early,'" Pat said.

"Of course I do," Hoby responded. "You're my wife."

Hobart Daniel Wolf Jr., the longtime columnist for The Eagle and even longer political activist in Carroll County, died Monday, Feb. 15. He was 85.

It's believed he died of natural causes, after battling heart ailments for years.

Hoby seemed to bottle the lives of many people into one person — media conglomerate, veteran, pilot, developer, farmer, activist and political junkie.

Dave Greenwalt, former owner of The Eldersburg Eagle and now publisher of The Northern News, in Hampstead and Manchester, called Hoby, "The John Wayne of Carroll County."

"He was just a rare individual," said Greenwalt, who said he and Hoby had become close friends after the columnist joined The Eagle paper in early 2003.

"He was a person who had an extreme love of country -- all that it was, all that it is, and who worked hard for all that it could be."

The entertainer

Hoby was born July 14, 1924, in St. Paul, Minn., son of the late Hobart Daniel Wolf Sr. and Katherine Herman Wolf.

He graduated from Brecks School for Boys in St. Paul, Minn., and was an Army veteran. His time in the Army took him overseas during World War II as a translator, interacting with German prisoners.

Back on American soil, he studied engineering, attending then-Town State Teachers' College, and earned a history degree from Drake University in 1950. He had also studied language at Carnegie Tech Institute.

His passion for language, whether spoken or written, was evident in his work. He had hosted a radio show for WKRC in Cincinnati in the 1950s, as well as at other Midwestern radio stations.

He would often do impersonations or imitations, creating characters, including a prim-and-proper "Miss Agnes," Pat said.

"He would interview personalities and he would take some of the promo stuff they would say and ask a silly question and make it sound like they would say a silly answer, like some of the stuff Jay Leno does today," Pat said.

While working for Milner-Fenwick Productions, Hoby was a producer for a 1960 documentary, "Beyond Silence," which was nominated for an Academy Award for best short film, according to Dave Milner, president of Milner-Fenwick Inc., a Hunt Valley-based health multimedia company.

The film, credited to the U.S. Information Agency, was about Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a school for hearing disabled students.

"Hoby was a wealth of knowledge about the writing and entertainment business," said Kevin Dayhoff, Eagle columnist and former Westminster mayor.

"He was always helpful and supportive," Dayhoff said. "Even when we disagreed, he was always so gracious and friendly and professional."

Hoby began his own advertising and public relations firm, Pine Studios Inc., in 1963. He also opened one of the first telecommunications businesses in the early 1980s, Telerep 800, that tried to block people from tapping phone lines to use for long distance calls.

It was at Telerep 800 that Hoby first crossed paths with his friendly column rival, John Culleton. Hoby hired Culleton to write computer programs.

"I have nothing but good memories from that experience," Culleton said. "He paid his bills."

The two relished back-and-forth barbs in The Eagle as Hoby would often to refer to Culleton as "Liberal John."

"He and I are at opposite poles, but we did well playing against each other," Culleton said.

Hoby always seemed to enjoy the give and take of opposing views, but rarely took it personally.

During a big snow few years ago, another of his political allies, Ed Primoff of Woodbine, saw Wolf do something that he said displayed the essence of the man.

"Hoby was out there on his tractor, taking the snow off neighbors' driveways," Primoff said.

"Some of those neighbors were ... writing terrible things about him in the newspaper," Primoff added. "I said, 'Hoby, why are you doing this?' "

Hoby told him, "Because they have to access their driveways," Primoff said.

The agitator

There was no doubt Hoby was controversial in his writing. Former Commissioner Donald Dell of Cranberry Valley called him an "amateur investigative reporter."

"He was an agitator when he had something that he thought wasn't going right. He would let you know and wouldn't give it up," said Dell -- who added that he wasn't sure if Hoby ever resolved any of the issues he wrote about.

But never being afraid to say something, no matter the consequence, earned the admiration of Hampstead Mayor Haven Shoemaker.

"I think Hoby epitomized what the founders were thinking of when they penned the First Amendment," said Shoemaker. "Whether you agreed with him or not -- and sometimes I didn't — you had to admire his gumption."

"Too often today, people are afraid of expressing their convictions," Shoemaker said. "Hoby never was."

Hoby ran unsuccessfully for Carroll County Commissioner in 1966 and 1970. Commissioner Michael Zimmer of Eldersburg knew Hoby well, and they would often see each other at Republican Party and South Carroll Business Association events.

"My service as commissioner wasn't always to his liking, and he would point that out in his columns," Zimmer said, "and I would take the opportunity to respond with letters to the editor.

"That kind of back-and-forth is good and healthy," he added. "People fought and died for Hoby Wolf's right to say and write what he did."

Freedom Area Citizens' Council President Ellen Dix interacted with Hoby for about 20 years at political and community events while trading viewpoints in print.

"He was passionate about Carroll County, and did not care whose toes he stepped on," she said. "Agree with him or not — he cared — and it sometimes (made) those we elect better, since he was watching all the time.

"I doubt South Carroll will ever see the likes of Hoby Wolf again," she said.

Brian Haight, of Haight Funeral Home, said he recalled his family and the Wolfs going to swim meets at Freedom Swim Club when they were kids.

"He had this big green Suburban, and there weren't enough seats, so he had lawn chairs in the back," he laughed.

Haight recalled charity events Hoby and Pat would host at their farm, where Hoby would give children rides in his airplane over Eldersburg and Sykesville.

It was a thrill, he said.

Cathy Drinkwater Better, another column-mate, called Hoby, "a colleague, and a dear friend."

"There was nobody like Hoby Wolf. Never will be again," she said.

"He's like an icon in Eldersburg," said James Talley, of Woodbine, who Wolf supported during Talley's service on the county's Ethics Commission in the 1990s.

Wolf himself served on the Board of Zoning Appeals from February 1997 to October 1999 before resigning due to business and family demands, according to an Oct. 6, 1999, story in The Sun.

The story said he, "added sarcasm and humor to the usually staid land-use panel, often interrupting testimony for an aside."

"I loved delivering the one-liners," Wolf told The Sun. "But lately I have been saying, 'Hi, neighbor,' more often than anything."

The gentleman

Hoby long loved flying. He was a private pilot and had his own airfield, Hoby Wolf Airport, which opened in June 1964.

He often flew for business trips, and it was a trip to Westminster that brought him the love of his life. Hoby walked into Hoffman's Ice Cream on Washington Road one day for lunch, and saw a young lady scrubbing the floors.

"Do you mind if you have to wait?" she said.

"No," he said. Then quoting poet John Milton, added, "They also serve who only stand and wait."

"One of the reasons I married him was for his mind," Pat said. "He had a great intellect; he had a great tolerance, and a love for anything.

"I asked him to go to an opera, and he would take me; I asked him to take me to a Shakespearean play, and he would take me and enjoy it," she said.

"He just had a passion for everything, and everything had value."

One of the Pat and Hoby's first dates was by plane, flying to Wildwood, N.J.

It almost turned into a disaster.

Instead of switching the gas tanks from left to right, he turned it off and the engine stopped. The plane descended, causing Hoby to make a mayday call.

Luckily, "he realized what he done and it started back up," Pat said.

The Wolf Airport runway, with its slopes and small hills, is now in a restricted fly zone due to Homeland Security concerns after 9/11, so takeoffs have halted.

In later life, Wolf bought a home in Monkton where he spent most of his time with his wife, Pat. They've only recently stayed there after renovating their Eldersburg home, she said.

They still have the Eldersburg property, too. A plan to build a retirement community there has backed off due to the recession.

The Monkton home was a gift to Pat, she said, a place she could live out her Scarlett O'Hara fantasy.

"He was very happy he could provide me with such a lovely home, but he was just as happy," she said.

"He would look out and say, 'I love every blade of grass. I love the streams so much.'"

"It's going to be awfully lonely without someone to share it with," she said.

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