Dwight Crowe recalled a story told by his friend, Ron West, about serving with the U.S. Army in the Vietnamese jungle and alongside his brigade members fearing that Viet Cong soldiers were hiding in a veil of thick foliage ahead planning to ambush advancing American soldiers.

Upon an order by West’s superior, a truck arrived and sprayed a substance on trees that instantly killed the leaves and anything else that was green in a huge area.

While the chemical known as Agent Orange successfully revealed any potential attackers in the forest, it also caused West to suffer through two bouts of cancer later in life.

West, who owned and operated the West Agency in Butler Township, died Monday from the latest cancer diagnosis.

“He worked up to the day he died,” Crowe said of West’s insurance and real estate agency on New Castle Road. “That was his little kingdom, and, bless him, he kept it well.”

A few days ago, West called Crowe, a longtime golfing buddy, to talk one last time.

“I guess I said goodbye to him the best I could,” Crowe said quietly.

He said West was his friend for more than 25 years.

“We drank a little, went on some golf vacations and shot the breeze,” Crowe said. “He was very proud of his golf game. Whether he was messing around or not, he tried to kill ya.”

Crowe said the annual golf trips to the Carolinas continued for 50 years.

“We just had a lot of good times together,” he said. “I’ll miss him being there when I needed him.”

Jim Schoeffel of Butler Township grew up with West in Evans City, where the boys played tag and Wiffle ball or ran around the neighborhood until they reached age 12.

Schoeffel explained that West’s father had an insurance agency in Butler and would drive the young men to Krendale Golf Course on his way to work and pick them up when he went home.

“We’d play all day long,” Schoeffel said. “We were best friends.”

That friendship and passion for the links continued into adulthood, when West and a group of friends spent each Thursday afternoon golfing and tossing back a few drinks.

“When he went to ’Nam, that was about the longest we were apart,” Schoeffel said.

After Schoeffel’s first wife died, West gave him two plots at the Evans City Cemetery because Schoeffel had married young and didn’t have a lot of money.

“He’d do anything for you,” Schoeffel said.

When West needed a real estate agent in the area of Evans City, Harmony and Zelienople, he asked Schoeffel to be his man.

“So I took Realtor classes and got my license in the early 1990s,” Schoeffel said.

Jack Kriess of Connoquenessing Township, another golfing buddy grieving West’s loss, said once it became too inclement to golf, the group would meet at a local watering hole each Thursday night just to laugh and enjoy one another’s company.

Kriess looked forward to the Thursday evening gatherings with his friends, as Kriess’ wife and daughter suffered through cancer before succumbing over the past two years.

“He was the one person to always ask about my daughter and my wife,” Kriess said. “He cared.”

While the Thursday night gatherings likely will continue, they won’t be the same, he said.

“He’ll be missed,” Kriess said.

West’s daughter, Amy West, worked at the West Agency with her dad and brother, Jason.

“He cared more about everyone else than he cared for himself,” Amy said. “Maybe he didn’t always have the right words, but he was always there for everyone as much as he could and in any way he could.”

Not only did West teach his son and daughter to golf, he taught his grandson, Amy’s 16-year-old son, Lawton Neigh, how to swing a club at age 2.

She said her father eventually taught all six of his grandchildren to golf.

“It was his absolute passion and I think he just wanted to share that joy,” Amy said.

She said the office won’t be the same again.

“I’ll miss seeing him every day,” Amy said.

West and his wife, Sandra, would have celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary in May.

Friends of Ron West will be received from 1 p.m. until the time of a service at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 9, at Boylan Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 856 Evans City Road, Renfrew, PA 16053.

A complete obituary will be published at a later date.