To those who knew and loved Curt, this blog is our place to share our memories of him and the things he loved. Please visit this blog often; read others entries, add your own comments and photos, so we can all get to know our friend better and honor his life. You will be missed Curtis. We hope you have found peace and rest.
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As you may now know, Curt passed away recently. Since there was no obituary about him I did not want him to be forgotten. I have been working to inform those folks that I know or remember. I hope that this will help his friends share memories of Curt, his life and the things that he loved.
I first met Curtis when he signed up for a whitewater rafting class that I was teaching at Spokane Community College during the summer of 1979. Curt took the class and to rafting and the whitewater world with a bang. He became a guide and worked with me for many years, first at SCC, then Eastern Washington University and then worked with an outfitter on the Main Salmon River.
During this same time Curt acquired a Perception Mirage kayak and became an amazing kayaker. He was fearless, strong and talented. Since I also taught canoeing at SCC he also learned that skill and guided with on many trips, often to Upper Priest Lake in Idaho.
When on the water and the beaches Curt was happy and in one of his favorite environments. The guests and students enjoyed him and he made lifetime friends amongst them and the other guides.
Together we also organized many multi-day river floats. The Main Salmon was one of our favorites and we could spend a week or longer enjoying ourselves. We had the organization figured out down to a gnat's ass. We planned for months and had the system down. We knew just how food a person needed per meal per day, how to store it so we had cold food and BEER for the whole trip. Curt had made some friends at Yellow Pine Bar on the Main Salmon and we always planned a layover day to stay with Newt and Sharon. We always organized a refreshment resupply to arrive via Arnold’s Aviation from Cascade, Idaho.
I will add more to this later.
I first met Curt in the spring of 1990. I just started dating Rick Newman, who was living in a house on Carlisle in Spokane. Curt was back in town and needed a place to stay, so he moved in with Rick.
The three of us had a fabulous summer together... My favorite memories of him at that time were coming home after work, all meeting in the backyard on Carlisle, burning some meat,, as Rick and Curt put it), sharing great meals, good beer and listening to music. Curt loved a good heffy with a slice of lemon. Those were the days when we could actually come home from work and do nothing but enjoy the evening and plan our adventures for the next weekend.
Curt came in and out of our lives off and on over the next twenty years, but we recently reconnected a year ago. For old times’ sake, we got together and “burned some meat”, shared a great meal, good beer and listened to our favorite music.
Over this past year he and I spoke a lot. He desperately wanted to move to Costa Rico, live in a little shack by the water, find himself a gorgeous 20 year old and sail. (That’s our Curt!). He loved to ride his Harley on a sunny day and experience the beauty around him, even if it was just from the seat of a bike.
We also talked a lot about the things that occurred in his past that likely contributed to his “interesting” personality. He talked about traveling with me to New York City the next time I went. I knew with his health deteriating that would never come to fruition but I think it was dreams of more adventures that kept him moving forward. Besides, he would have driven me crazy, the moody little basturd!
For those of you who did not know, he had some sort of degenerative, auto immune disorder that was deteriating his joints, so he had a really hard time moving. He also injured his back while working in Alaska. He was in need of back and shoulder surgery, had issues with his knees and needed an angioplasty to clear a blockage in his heart. He was in a lot of pain.
The thing that hurts me the most about Curt’s death is that he died alone. I think he felt alone too. However, he had amazing friends from far and wide. I hope some how he knows he mattered; he had value and was loved. Curtis was beautiful, strong and passionate. Peace to you always my friend.
Donna Newman
I miss my old curmudgeon friend. Hope you are floating on a perpetual stream of "Cool....Clear.....Water".
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