Scott Libby endured the early death of his father, and grew to be his own man. He learned how to landscape, and how to get the most out of a greenhouse. He went to college, and built his own business, along with a reputation for honesty, friendliness and hard work.

“He was one of the most industrious men I’ve ever met,” said friend Bob Wehmeyer, of Windham, who knew Libby through Libby Landscaping and the Lakes Region Farmers Market. “He was always working, doing something.”

That all ended early in the morning of Feb. 20, on the railroad tracks off a lonely road in Bethel, where the body of the 25-year-old Raymond man was found after his car had been struck by a train.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Casco Village Church, 941 Meadow Road in Casco.

Bethel police and the Maine State Police are now investigating the death, but are releasing few details. The state Medical Examiner’s Office has conducted an autopsy on Libby’s body, but investigators are not releasing the cause of death, or any other specifics related to the investigation.

“A number of questions have come up that we are trying to resolve,” said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

A few of those questions may center around the Bethel Hostel, where manager Wyling Cambrium said a guest told him he had a confrontation with Libby in the hours before Libby’s car was struck.

According to Cambrium, the guest said Libby, who employed the guest during the summer, had met up with the guest – though he didn’t specify where – to collect a loan and return collateral for the loan. A disagreement followed, and the guest said he punched Libby a couple of times in the head.

The state police executed a search warrant at the Hostel this weekend, Cambrium said. No charges have been filed.

The guest had been staying in the Hostel for three weeks, Cambrium said.

“He seemed quite normal. He was getting along nicely with everyone,” he said, adding he wasn’t quite sure what to think of the guest’s story. “Whether it was just a cover up for something else, I’m not sure.”

What is known at this time is that Libby’s Chevy Cobalt was parked on the railroad tracks early Friday morning, about 200 yards from the intersection of Route 2 and Barker Road in Bethel. At around 2:35 a.m., a St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad train came along, headed west, one of two trains that pass through that area each day.

The crews detected something on the tracks, said Ed Foley, general manager of St. Lawrence & Atlantic, based in Auburn. When they realized it was a vehicle, they blew the train’s horn, and tried to stop, but it was too late. There was a collision, and the car was dragged 850 feet along the rail. Emergency crews were called immediately.

“These are the calls you don’t want to get,” said Foley. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

However, damage to Libby’s car was minimal, according to a story in the Bethel Citizen, a local newspaper in the town. “You wouldn’t suspect it had been hit by a train,” Bethel Fire Chief Mike Jodrey told the Citizen. “It looked like someone had rear-ended it at a stop sign.”

Despite that, according to the story in the newspaper, Libby’s body was found covered in blood. Police Chief Alan Carr told the Citizen the injuries to Libby’s body seemed to be far beyond what would be expected from such a collision.

Jodrey and Carr did not return calls this week.

Libby’s death leaves a hole in his heart, and one in the community as well, Wehmeyer said.

Libby learned the art of landscaping from Penny Murley at Murley’s Greenhouse, along Route 85 in Raymond, before opening his own roadside shop. Libby Landscaping grew quickly, due to its owners’ affable personality and trustworthy ethic, Weymeyer said.

On the side, Libby, a 2001 Windham High School graduate who went on to study accounting at Bentley College in Massachusetts, prepared tax returns and worked as a bartender in Boston on the weekends.

“He built it all on his own. He was a self-made man,” Wehmeyer said.

He helped in the community, too, as the treasurer and Web master for the Lakes Region Farmers Market. He was also a member of the Rainbow Business Professional Association of Portland, for which he sold his plants to raise money for scholarships.

In the wake of his untimely death, tributes to Libby have popped up online on his MySpace page, where friends and family from all over the country have written in disbelief that he is gone. The family has also started scottlibby.blogspot.com as a memorial to Libby, “Son, Friend, Landscaper.”

Though Libby’s time on earth was too short, Wehmeyer said, he is glad to have known the man he considered his “surrogate son.” Just days before his death, Libby stopped by Wehmeyer’s home and, like so many times before, they sat and talked – great conversation with a cherished friend.

“I just thank God I spent those two hours with him,” said Wehmeyer.

Scott Libby of Raymond was the owner of Libby Landscaping and an integral member of the Lakes Region Farmers’ Market. He was killed last week when his car was hit by a train in Bethel.