I did not know This man but I knew many men and women who walked his steps, warmed his seat and comforted the people in much the same way. As I read this article I misted for them all and really, why? They lived as they wished. Out in the wild blue, day to day, sad some but mostly not. A gift to us all in suits of eccentric behavior and generally wreathed in smiles and knowledge of obscure facts and fun. Bless him. Bless them all.
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No Home But Plenty of Community

Peter Bis may have been the most rootless savant on Capitol Hill. He lived most of the past decade on the streets near Union Station without an address, a phone, a job or even a reliable connection to reality (unless the former law student with the uncanny memory really wasPrincess Diana’s former lover and a onetime aerospace magnate).
But in the week since Bis died of an apparent heart attack near his favorite corner at Second Street and Massachusetts Avenue NE, his many acquaintances — from think-tank economists to Hill waiters — have been marveling at just how deep a homeless man’s roots can sink into a busy neighborhood.
His catchphrases live on in the memories of Hill dwellers: “Four days until the weekend,” he’d rasp in his distinctive voice to passersby. “It’s 10 a.m., tea time in London, cocktails in Singapore.” One of the most common, and inexplicable, is tacked up in printed form to the tree: “No skinny dipping!”
His audience — his family, really — was the never-ending parade of humanity pouring in and out of the train station, the Congress, the Heritage Foundation offices down the block. Also the waiters at Armand’s Pizzeria, where he used to store his many piles of clutter each night, and the workers at the Exxon where he not only used the bathrooms but kept them clean.
“We looked out for him; he was a peaceful guy,” said Joseph Rohayem, co-owner of the gas station. Bis would use his computer sometimes and, on the coldest nights only, he would sleep in the garage.
Otherwise, he made his bed outdoors. “I grew up in Michigan; we do winter camping,” hetold WAMU (88.5 FM) radio several years ago. “I’m good to 30 below zero. Seriously. I don’t think Paris Hilton is going to come by and pick me up in a limousine.”
After spending some time living near the United Nations building in New York, Bis migrated to another power center, Capitol Hill in Washington. His brother said the neighborhood reminded him of the bustling international feel of their youth near the university. Bis called home often, borrowing cellphones from his friends on the street.
“I got some very interesting names on my caller ID,” James Bis said. “I’d say, ‘Why are Capitol Police calling me, or some congressional office. ‘Oh, it’s Pete . . . ’ ”
Peter Bis became well-known as a homeless guy who never asked for money, although he gratefully accepted bagels, leftovers and free coffee from hundreds of sidewalk benefactors.
When strangers approached, he gave them business cards listing the address of a blog titled “Peter Bis: Vatican, Finances, Mafia, Kalamazoo,” where he regularly laid down his extremely wide-ranging thoughts with the help of acquaintances.
“Evil spirits thought to include Laura Bush and Catherine Zeta-Jones wiped out civilizations on Mars and Venus,” according to one entry. “Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat is owned by the Mafia,” starts another.
Washington lawyer Marc Alain Bohn encountered Bis regularly when he was a Senate staffer in 2006. One day, Bohn was carrying an international law book when Bis yelled out that he’d been involved in an arbitration proceeding before the United Nations.
“He would sidetrack into these stories of CIA adventures he may have been involved in,” Bohn said, “but through all of that, I felt I got grains and nuggets of truth here and there.”
Bis once told Bohn that he’d turned down teaching positions, because the $48,000 salary was simply “not enough to live on in this area.”
At one point, Bockweg helped Bis move into a nearby apartment, which was provided by social services agencies to get him off the streets. But he filled it with so much clutter that he was evicted, Bockweg said.
Bis ended up back at the tree by the Exxon station. It was the place he considered home.
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By Steve Hendrix and J. Freedom du Lac, Published: August 21
Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/capitol-hill-grieves-for-homeless-man-who-was-neighborhood-fixture/2012/08/21/1395b668-ebc8-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_story.html?hpid=z4