A skateboarder runs by Aberdeen's graffiti memorial to Kurt Cobain, the Aberdeen-born rock star who died last month. The back of the Wirta Building at F and Market streets was spray painted days after Cobain shot himself.

Cobain's days as a loner smoking pot and skipping classes at Aberdeen High School have been fodder for numerous media reports, but in grade school and junior high at Montesano he was generally well-liked and a seemingly average kid. He played Little League baseball, wrestled and was a drummer in the band.

Quiet and artistic from his earliest years, Cobain exhibited an unusual magnetism among those few close to him. The stage presence that riveted millions apparently was always there.

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