Mark Belter – NR Businessman, Loving Friend
When I think about memories with Scott – It would be impossible for me to narrow it down to one memory because we have had so many. Scott has been my friend since grade school over 35 years. Our friendship started with us getting a detention together and walking home from school to his house… We had the best years together playing high school football creating a bond between all of our
teammates that still exist today. We have always been there when any of us needed anything.
We learned the ups and downs of life together navigating through high school, college, work, girls, heart breaks, vacations, motorcycles, boating, coaching, kids, and so much more.
I have hundreds of stories I cannot share due to the rated R – rating.
So whether it was 30 years ago with Scott taking me on one of his side jobs to pour concrete -which Scott took most of us on a side job to see if any of us loved pouring concrete as much as he did!! None of us could hang with Nick and Scott so we all took different career paths.
Memories of racing my Eagle Talon at Norwalk as Nick raced his rented Ford Taurus down the drag strip. For the record Scott won in my Eagle Talon that night.
There was vacationing in Cancun- to country concerts- to sporting events- to casino trips – special moments and memories I will cherish forever. One-time Scott wanted to start jogging- Yes Scott Bolek wanted to jog! I took him to the park, and we ran a mile or so– I asked him questions and was talking away on our short run. I would get the Bolek glare and maybe a quick head shake or a winded one word response. We finished our first run and once he caught his breath- Scott looked at me and said I wanted to kill you – shut up and stop asking me questions I could not breathe or talk to you. Well 2 months later Scotty was jogging 7 miles with me talking to me the entire way. He was proud of his short running
career.
Since Christmas Eve night in 2018 when Scott called me and said Mark my worst nightmare – I have ALS.. Those three letters ALS hit me like a ton of bricks and tears rolled down my face as I just finished watching my Uncle battle ALS and pass away. I told Scott that night we would get through it together every step of the way and fight this together. Over the last 16 months we made a whole new set of
memories- different than before when we were young and riding our motorcycles at 100+ mph or being crazy acting like fools on a dance floor.
We spent quality time because we both knew it was limited- we spent time at Browns games, Cavs games, boating, concerts, morning stock talk, our weekly lunches and casino trips. Most recently Scott wanted us to build a house out by his family’s home and be close for our boys and Grady to grow up together. Just like Scott and I did. Scott jumped into building- putting plans in motion and was so on top of every meeting and had a solution for every hang up. Recently -He had Jamie and I spray the driveway. An extremely simple task for Scott- while for Jamie and I it was monumental! We had to measure and re-measure- stop and walk over to Scott ask questions- As we sprayed orange spray paint Scott just shook his head at us like he never has seen two people make this simple task so hard…
Scott will not get to see his finished product and that breaks my heart- he was so excited to see this house completed. This house will have a piece of Scott in it forever and it allowed me to spend so much more time every day with Scott. All these special memories we shared over these last 16 months. One of the best memories this past fall was Scott watching me coaching Grady in football – The joy that brought to Scott watching Grady play football was incredible- The memory of Grady hugging Scott after the season ended with tears running down his face I knew this was something Scott was so proud he was able to see.
Scott will be with me forever – He was the most loyal friend and would defend his friends at all cost- He would do anything and make sacrifice after sacrifice for his friends. Drop anything to help or solve our problems. I will miss Scott and I pray he is resting easy now and looking down on all of us knowing how many lives he touched. Rest easy Scotty – Love, Mark
