I've met a lot of great folks in my 56 years, so it's impossible to say which one is "the best."

I've interviewed three presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Reagan gave me two beers during a campaign bus ride, and when I told him I would have voted for him if he had given me a six-pack, he hollered to an aide, "Bring this man some beer!"

I met Mr. Clinton three times - once in the Oval Office. He complimented me on my tie, decorated with self-portraits of our mutual hero, John Lennon.

"I've got the same tie," Mr. Clinton said. "Yoko gave it to me."

I got mine from my sister.

"Best guy" politician - no doubt - 13-term U.S. Rep. William Jennings Bryan Dorn. It was at his Greenwood home where I ticked off Coretta Scott King by trying to interview her while she was eating. Not my best move.

I teared up during a very spiritual experience with Pope Paul II. Bob Dole wept when I reunited him in 1996 with his platoon sergeant. The last time they had seen each other was moments before a German artillery shell shattered Mr. Dole's body on an Italian battlefield in 1944.

Then there are all the great folks here in Aiken who do so much to make this the wonderful town it is.

One of "the best" is my good friend George Custodi. After a distinguished career in the Navy, George moved here to be a Savannah River Site engineer.

He helped found Partners in Friendship, a highly successful sister-city arrangement among Aiken; Orvieto, Italy; and Shoalhaven, Australia. A lot of friends have been made, and a lot of cultural understanding has been reached through Partners, and a lot of kids from Aiken and Orvieto have earned Partners scholarships to study here and in Milan, Florence and other centers of Italian learning.

George brought the then-fledgling, now-flourishing Priory of St. Vincent of the Knights Templar to Aiken. (St. Vincent is the patron saint of viticulture, which is among the reasons I joined.) The peaceful modern-day Templars, unlike the warrior monks of the Middle Ages, have a mission to support the poor, work for peace in the world and carry on the order's thousand-year-old traditions of chivalry and dedication to Christian service.

He has had a built-in advantage in his wife, Sandi. If I had a partner as agelessly lovely, intelligent, gracious and imbued with her own sense of civic responsibility, I might have gotten some good things done myself.

George is on the way back from a serious medical problem. With his full recovery, it's exciting to imagine what other wonderful things he will accomplish with his life.

Thanks, George. You're "the best"!

Stephen D. Hale of Aiken is a freelance writer and community activist.