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WILKES-BARRE — For the past week Kim Kanasky Morgan has been looking for Andy Walgo, a family friend missing from the Riverview Ridge assisted living center.

She will be back at it today when a search gets underway for the 78-year-old former Pennsylvania Turnpike worker and former Plains Township commissioner.

Morgan knew Walgo, who was best friends with her father Paul Kanasky and grandfather Ray Banaszek, both deceased. Walgo used to hang out her father’s gas station on Scott Street.

“That was the first place I searched for him,” she said Friday.

She also checked the Wyoming Valley Mall, his former Wilkes-Barre Township home and the area around the center at the corner of Courtright Avenue and North River Street.

Like others who knew Walgo she felt compelled to search knowing he would do the same for someone in need of help. They considered themselves family for the man who has none.

Walgo suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, and Morgan said other who had been with him recently noticed nothing out of the ordinary. “He’s all there,” she said.

“I haven’t seen him in a few years,” Morgan said. “It hits home so it bothers me a lot.”

Walgo was able to come and go from the center and was last seen at approximately 4 p.m. on Sept. 4. He did not drive and used a blue walker to get around.

Ron Filippini said he’s Walgo’s best friend and has power of attorney for him. He got a call around 9:45 p.m. Sept. 4 when Walgo did not return to the center.

“I searched that night it happened until 3 in the morning,” said Filippini, a Plains Township commissioner.

Township police and firefighters and Wilkes-Barre firefighters have covered a lot a ground as well, he said.

Filippini drove Walgo to medical appointments and for shopping locally. They also walked together, he said.

“I see him once a week,” said Filippini. He added Walgo would have called him if went out of town or was staying somewhere.

Wilkes-Barre police reported him missing that night but did not attach a photograph of him on its Facebook page. City spokeswoman Liza Prokop said police post a photo if one is available. The case is an active missing person investigation and a detective has been assigned to it, she said.

She confirmed township and city firefighters did a foot patrol search of the area near the center, but nothing was found as of Sept. 9.

Morgan has been circulating fliers with his photo and one is taped to the counter of the Quick Food Mart across from Bedwick Foods Inc. at the intersection of Maple and North Main streets. a few blocks from the center in the city’s North End.

Leo Ellis, president of Bedwick Foods, knew Walgo to be very active in the Plains American Legion and Plains Lion’s Club. They met through Ellis’ uncle, the late Pete Bedwick.

“He was the guy when they would have the Christmas parade, he would dress up as Santa Claus and ride on the fire truck,” Ellis said.

When Ellis’ uncle died, Walgo stopped by the converted firehouse where the food service business is located to help out. Much of what Walgo did, and Ellis said it was substantial, was done quietly and without fanfare.

“His kindness and generosity were only surpassed by his humility,” Ellis said.

He too will join in the search today.

Walgo
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By Jerry Lynott

[email protected]

Search Saturday

A search will be conducted for Andy Walgo who went missing from the Riverview Ridge assisted living center on Sept. 4. Participants are asked to meet at 10 a.m. in the center’s parking lot, 300 Courtright Ave., Wilkes-Barre.

Walgo, 78, is white, 5 feet 3 inches tall, 160 pounds with balding brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt, gray sweat pants and using a blue walker.

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLNews