CHERRY VALLEY — It was 1970 and Ron Lockwood was living in an apartment in Butler when he took a trip to the county’s northernmost reaches to visit a friend.

Lockwood, a former operating room tech in the U.S. Navy who was beginning a career in public education that would span decades, never imagined he would end up moving north.

But months later, after falling in love with Cherry Valley’s “rural feeling”, Lockwood had purchased a house and 100 acres of farmland for the now-unthinkable price of $10,000.

A member of the borough’s then nine-member council — Lockwood can’t remember who — suggested he run to replace Cherry Valley’s retiring mayor. Lockwood, who had never imagined becoming an elected official, ran unopposed and won.

For nearly two generations — 45 years and counting — Lockwood has been, in a literal sense, at the center of this tiny borough.

In the summer the borough’s now five-member council meets on the porch of Lockwood’s Oneida Valley Road home. When the weather turns, council business is conducted in his living room, where Lockwood’s dogs and clocks — two of his great loves — usually preside.

Cherry Valley is a place where little changes and people, Lockwood says, like it that way.

“I can’t remember when I got a complaint last about anything,” Lockwood said. “It’s been years and years.”

In part, Lockwood said, that’s because of one of the borough’s major accomplishments in his time as mayor: outsourcing road work and winter maintenance to Venango and Allegheny townships. Before the bigger municipalities agreed to take on the jobs, borough officials would use their personal time to plow and spread salt by hand.

These days, the road work that Lockwood and other borough officials spend time performing consists of twice yearly trash pickups — a practice that’s been in place for nearly a decade.

Lockwood is self-deprecating when asked about what it takes to remain a borough mayor for 45 years and counting.

“In a place like this, with a low population rate, running the borough is not exactly tough,” he said. “It’s just a peaceful, quiet community. People mind their own business, but they’ll help out,” if someone needs it.

When Lockwood reads in the paper about things like bringing more development to northern Butler County, he doesn’t think Cherry Valley residents are the ones clamoring for change.

“I never hear any of my constituents complain about not having enough of that stuff — development,” he said. “I think, in our area, we kind of like it the way it is.”

The way it is, Lockwood said, hasn’t changed much apart from Cherry Valley’s political leanings swinging left. When Lockwood was first elected the borough had about 96 residents and was overwhelmingly Republican.

In 2013, for the first time ever, Lockwood had to run a write-in campaign to get on the ballot. The borough of about 66 people didn’t have enough Republicans to fill out his candidate petition and get his name listed on the ballot.

The 79-year-old mayor still ran unopposed and won 100 percent of the votes — 17 — cast in the race that November.

“No one’s ever run against me,” Lockwood said. “No opposition. Sometimes I wish there would be.”

Gaylene Hilliard, Cherry Valley’s tax collector and the wife of council member Brian Hilliard, has known Lockwood for 35 years and counting — since her son, Jared, first delivered a paper to the mayor’s front door.

“You can’t get good people like him (Lockwood) anymore to serve and continue on things,” Hilliard said. “That’s what this municipality’s worried about.”

She called the mayor a “happy-go-lucky guy” who reveled in diving into Cherry Valley’s history when he moved into the borough and has sustained a frenetic, community-oriented lifestyle for decades.

“I think he thrives on, the more work he has the better off he is,” Hilliard said. “I think he truly cares about the municipality down here.”

Lockwood said he briefly toyed with the idea of retirement when his current term ends in 2016. Stepping away would mean more time for his hobbies.

The former teacher and school administrator — Lockwood served as a principal in the Karns City School District for 18 years — is an enthusiastic traveler and collector with a passion for ancient Roman culture. He’s visited nearly every state in the U.S., and takes cruises to international destinations like South America, Greece and other European counties.

Ultimately, Lockwood decided he wasn’t ready to leave his mayorship, or his positions among the leadership of other organizations behind.

“I thought, why not?” said Lockwood, who also serves as the vice chairman of the Butler Parks and Recreation Commission, the president of the Butler County Boroughs Association, and chairman of the board of directors at the Butler Little Theatre.

Acting and theater is one of Lockwood’s passions as well, said Bob Harrison, who taught alongside Lockwood in the Butler School District in the 1960s, where the pair also helped put on the district’s musical productions and became fast friends.

“He’s generous to a fault,” Harrison said of Lockwood. “I think he enjoys doing the service to the community.

Both have for years shared a love of travel, with Lockwood taking trips to the western United States and visiting landmarks like the Grand Canyon again and again with Harrison and his wife.

“I can remember one time, we had rented rim-side cabins overlooking the canyon’s south side. I went into his room and he’s sitting there, looking out the widow,” Harrison said. “And he tells me: ‘I’m at peace with the world here.’”

These days, one of Lockwood’s favorite mayoral powers to exercise is presiding over wedding ceremonies — something he started doing about six years ago after being approached by a divorced, elderly couple who had each been diagnosed with cancer and wanted to remarry.

Lockwood performed the ceremony, his first, in the living room of his home. Its poignancy sticks with him to this day, he said.

Since then, Lockwood has overseen ceremonies on his porch, a local church, and venues large and small. The shine hasn’t worn off. He still enjoys hearing self-written vows and watching newlyweds celebrate with their friends and families.

“I love it,” Lockwood said. “Everyone’s just so happy.”