In Our View: Bauer’s devotion to learning improved county The Columbian Share: Even late in life, Al Bauer was a gentlemanly voice of reason and cared deeply for his community. As recently as April 7, in a letter to the editor published by The Columbian, Bauer reminisced about his father and shared a quote about the environment: “Nature is working 24 hours per day to put a brand-new suit of clothes on itself and if man could give more time and help nature in its work of beautification, then how beautiful life could be.” That was the last of many letters to the editor from Bauer, and it meaningfully encapsulated a lifetime of work to beautify Clark County. Bauer died last week at the age of 92, following a stroke.