Robert Hinkle submitted photo

In a small, sleepy borough such as Portersville, with a population of 231 as of the 2020 Census, there’s a chance that everyone knows everyone else, and there’s a strong chance that everyone knew who Robert Hinkle was.

“He was larger than life,” said Mark Lauer, CEO of Karns City Regional Ambulance Service.

According to those who knew him, Hinkle, who died at the age of 78 on Sunday, June 15, did just about everything for Portersville, up to and including serving as the borough’s mayor during the late 1980s. He also served as president and director of agglomeration at Mars Mineral, a pelletizer manufacturer based in Mars.

However, it was through his contributions to Portersville EMS that he made his most substantial impact on the borough.

Hinkle was a founding member of Portersville EMS when it got its start in 1989 and started out as an ambulance driver. By the time he retired from service in 2015, he had risen through the ranks, from driver to EMT to president of the organization.

“He was a driver at first,” said Kathy Neiper, retired EMT and current secretary for Portersville EMS. “And then he would come and help whenever he could. And then he wanted to get into being an EMT too.”

Between his multiple duties — serving as mayor, working at Mars Mineral, his duties with the EMS, and, earlier, the volunteer fire department — his attention was divided, but he gave his full effort to the EMS.

“He worked long hours at his job. He didn’t get home until like six in the evening,” said Janet Schreffler, current treasurer for the EMS. “But on weekends and evenings, he was always here, even in the middle of the night. He was so even-tempered and fun to be around.”

According to Neipert, Hinkle did far more than simply work as a paramedic. He helped build the Portersville EMS building itself, a building on West Portersville Road which opened in 1996 and is being used to this day.

“This was an old Agway building,” Neipert said. ““Bob did a lot of the work in here to put in the crew room, the kitchen and the rental hall.”

Emergency work runs in the family. In fact, Hinkle’s wife, Betty, and sons, Todd and Chris were all a part of Portersville EMS at or near its founding in 1989.

“(Betty) was an EMT before he was,” Neipert said. “That’s why he decided to do it.”

Although they didn’t serve in the same EMS agency, Lauer shared many fond memories of working on the same scenes as Hinkle, as their careers overlapped by decades.

“We’d go over to McConnells Mill for a drowning or whatever,” Lauer said. “Bob towered over other people and you could tell he was looking at you guys to make sure you were OK. You could just tell he kept his eye on you. He was like that hovering dad that made sure that you were OK. He was just that reassuring guy on the scene that you knew you could go to if you needed something.”

Eventually, Hinkle rose to the position of president of the EMS, a position that carried far more responsibility.

“Being a president, you’re more or less keeping the organization together,” Neipert said. “The overall of how everything was being run, he would be in charge of that. The president was in charge of the buildings and the people.”

“If we whined, he had to go tell people what we complained about,” Neipert said.

“He was like the big dad of the organization, if that makes any sense,” Lauer said. “These small EMS communities are like family. Bob was the dad and Betty was the mom.”

Hinkle would remain president of the EMS until both he and Betty, both in their late 60s, retired from service in 2015. Many of their fellow emergency workers showed their appreciation by throwing a surprise party for them on the day they left.

“I’ll say to my dying days that Betty and Bob were the soul of this organization,” Neipert said.