Bayview, Idaho, lost its unofficial ambassador over the weekend.

Ralph Jones, the owner of the coffee shop on east Highway 54, which doubles as this lakeside community’s main drag, died in his sleep on Friday night.

His death is cause for pause.

It is a blow to this unincorporated town where the official count of 600 residents fluctuates to far fewer people in the winter and swells — like the waters of lake Pend Oreille that it nestles against — to a few thousand or more during summer festivities.

Ralph didn’t waver like that.

There was no up and down for the town’s unofficial mayor, people helper, storyteller and local historian.

He was always here regardless of sunshine or rain, snow or illness.

Ralph had your back.

“He was a really solid guy,” said Herb Huseland, a longtime resident and friend.

Since turning the place into an internet cafe in the 2000s, Ralph could usually be found at his coffeehouse.

“It was the information center of Bayview,” said Bruce Branson, who lives up the road in Bonner County.

Ralph’s Coffeehouse sits just a little higher in elevation than the rest of town, and it was here in relatively tight quarters that neighbors, visitors and regulars could eat, sip Java and have their clothes washed at the laundromat next door.

“It was the first place that opened in the morning, so that is where a lot of people — I don’t want to say old guys — went to have coffee,” said Theresa Long, the manager of the Captain’s Wheel bar and restaurant. “He had a nice following.”

Ralph — gaunt, with a keen ear and observant eye — promoted Bayview from the small, cozy building. He listed into stories of the olden days or crafted ideas to pique the interest of visitors, draw tourists, or just get a bunch of people to come to town and fall in love with the same place he had — the iconic community with a freshwater Naval base on one of the more scenic lakes in the continental U.S.

He knew the history in his sleep, from the lime and cement industry to the lumber days, the old resorts, big fish and celebrities that plied the big North Idaho lake.

“His historical knowledge of Bayview was probably better than anyone else I know,” said Branson, who stood bearded and ball-capped on Monday, outside JD’s Bar and Resort, not far from the other bars and resorts.

“A lot of times he would sit and want you to ask a question, and then the whole place would get a history lesson.”

Ralph was known for many things.

He was a bartender at the Captain’s Wheel way back when. He worked for a local developer, a controversial figure, and got fired, because “he told him he didn’t know what the hell he was doing,” Huseland said.

He ran a lawn care business, opened the town’s first — and only — internet cafe, hired a lot of kids to work for him, started the Oktoberfish derby, was the town’s official parade grand marshal, promoter and public figure, and he helped people.

Which endeared him to everybody.

“There isn’t one person in this town he hasn’t helped out,” Branson said.

Ralph helped many.

“He was always doing stuff for people,” Huseland said.

When you do so much for so many, you become known.

“He was Bayview Ralph,” Long said. “Everyone knew him.”

Just ask.

“If there was a white pages for Bayview, I’d say tear them out and call anyone,” Richard Jones, Ralph’s brother said.

Richard had been meaning for years to travel from his Post Falls home to spend time with his brother, but something always got in the way.

“I was always busy,” Richard said. “I never got the opportunity.”

Except this week, he had cut out some time before Ralph’s birthday — he turned 62 this month — and then this.

“We loved each other dearly,” Richard said. “We were definitely brothers. We always had each other’s back.”

Huseland met with Ralph Friday night.

“He looked perfectly all right,” he said.

When Ralph didn’t show up to the store the next day someone went looking. He was found in his recliner, as if he was asleep, Huseland said.

And when the news arrived, the town took a breath.

“He was a big personality,” Long said.

An amazing guy.

“If Bayview had an ambassadorship, he would have been it,” Huseland said.

Outside of JD’s, Branson and Beverly Vig looked up the road, wondering why town was so quiet. Maybe it was the weather, they mused. It was almost as if people just didn’t want to get out today. Maybe they were thinking about Ralph.

“The mail boat guy said Ralph’s was a life well-lived,” Branson said. “That’s about as good as you can say about anybody.”