From: Larry Smith
Subject: HSMB; Kurt Memory

This little slice of time in Kurt's life is an elaboration of the memory I had when my grandfather took Kurt and myself on one of his steelhead fishing trips to the Wynoochee River. I first related this at the memorial at the Seattle Center. I would like to be so bold as to add to what I remember here.
I had related at the memorial that Kurt had been howling and screaming and generally making a lot of noise. Gramps had told me to go upstream to find Kurt because he must have hooked into a big fish..and, of course, you all know that he didn't even have his line in the water! He was just kicking back against a good sized rock in the sunshine, practicing his screaming so, as he put it: "I can strengthen my vocal cords"...
Well, I need to relate that, driving up the Wynoochee Road to the fishing spot, Kurt was really just "talking up" about how he was going to really try to catch one of those big lunkers. I mean, he was nearly bragging about how he just knew he could cast his line probably even better than Gramps. Of course he knew damn well that Gramps had been fishing for the difficult-to-catch steelheads for probably 40-plus years. He was just smiling and "getting Gramps' goat" with his comments. I wish I could remember the exact comments, but I don't...sorry. Anyway, we went down the Anderson Creek road, which is gravel, and deadends about 100 yards from the river. From there, you have to walk through fairly thick brush to the gravel bar. Gramps got out of the truck on his side, and Kurt and I got out on the passenger side. Gramps told Kurt to "close the truck door solid, so it would close all the way." Of course, this was a cue for Kurt to overdo it..he gave me that wild-eyed grin, took both hands, and just "cranked" on that door! Gramps jumped about a mile! Kurt just cracked up, and was bent over laughing at this stupid little trick! I mean, I didn't think it was so funny, but Kurt sure thought HE was funny!
Gramps told Kurt and I to hold our fishing poles backward, with the tip behind us, so we could get through the brush easier, explaining that if you hold it forward, it is hard to twist and turn through the heavy stuff. Gramps led the way, I followed him, and Kurt was behind me. No sooner had we gone about 50 feet, and Kurt was somewhere behind us, squawking and bitching..Gramps looked at me and said something like: "Christsakes, what's he got screwed up now?" We went back there, and Kurt was just tugging like a maniac on his fishing pole, which was caught in the weeds and the branches. Gramps said something like, "Well, I thought you were going to be the BEST fisherman here today, Kurt. You know, yhou have to make it to the river before you can even think about catching anything!" Of course, now Kurt is a little pissed. He just looked away while Gramps cut away the absolute birds-nest of entangled nylon that Kurt had created with his impatient tugging and pulling... We got to the river, and Gramps pointed out to us to sort of start at the top end of the "hole" where the rapids hit the deep water, and work our way down the hole with repeated casts, so as to "sweep" the whole area where a fish might lie. But, NO, NOT KURT! He said that he was going to search upstream to the next "hole" and do it on his own. Gramps just grinned, shook his head, and said for Kurt to just go ahead and do his own thing. So, the last picture I had in my head was Kurt, stumbling up the gravel bar, fishing pole jerking around spasmodically every time he falf-slipped on rocks, heading for that "big fish"> Now, I am back to where I was in the eulogy, with Kurt kicking back and "strengthening his vocal cords". I noticed that his lure was just sort of displayed on top of a rock, liked he had carefully placed it there so he could just sort of stare at it!
I am not sure, but I think that Kurt never did get his lure in thewater that day. Whenever I saw him, he was just screwing off, looking at log jams, skipping rocks, and turning boulders over to look at the various creatures. I do remember thinking, "what a weirdo -- came to do some fishing, bragged about his fishing ability ahead of time, then goes off to do something completely different!"
The only other thing that I remember with clarity is Gramps telling Kurt: "No, you can't ride in the back of the truck. You might fall out." I assume Kurt must have asked to ride back there. I know Kurt talked on the way back to Montesano, but I just don't remember what he said...
Well, that's it. Kind of mundane, but, when I think back on it, a smile HAS to come to my face.
(Please be aware that I have tried to be as accurate as possible, and that some of my quotes are only approximations of what I remember Kurt or Gramps saying - after all, this was 15 or 16 years ago). I hope that my descriptions will at least give you a "picture" of the the essence of Kurt's actions, and tha{ they show his very typical human nature...well, SORT of typical... :-)

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