Simply known as the "coot". A name given to him our senior year by his best LIFELONG fishing buddy.....Dale Geibel. The "coot" morphed into "cootus" - was very much part of the South Salem party crowd our senior year. Fishing was his passion - and he worked for Fitts Seafood store in his later years. "Fitting" wouldn't you say?!! Not a close friend = but I seemed to be around him a lot - as we hung with the same crowd in HS. His closest friends were Charlie Bello, Bob Judson, and Geibel. One memory to share,,,,,In late august 1969 his father bought him a brand new Chevrolet El Camino SS396 i.e. very fast, for a graduation gift. On a beautiful august night he showed up in front of my house with about 20 other "wild indians" along with Ron Wiebe and his "older" El Camino. "We're heading to the fair" they scream. We picked up Bob Judson (my neighbor) and off we went with about 10 people per car - most in the back. I remember it being scary as Tim's El camino was fast and he was showing everyone what it could do! When we got to the fair - we ALL decided to jump the fence and not pay. Several people chased us in all directions - but couldn't catch us.We then proceeded to cause much mayhem. Charlie Bello had the great idea to steal some darts from the balloon throwing booth and throw them at the helium balloons that the vendors were holding and selling. The "coot" tried to grab a handfull of darts from the booth - and the great big mean looking "carnie" woman running the booth grabbed him by the neck and slapped him in the face really HARD leaving a big red mark! While this was going on - Kerry Morris grabbed some darts and off we went. We then proceeded to the FFA displays and stole their prized vegetables and eggs from the poultry bins for "throwing" ammunition. The finale was in the tunnel of love - where everyone was jumping from boat to boat and too many people got in ONE BOAT and the thing sank and jammed up the ride. The guy running the ride waded in with a flashlight and was pissed / screaming at everyone. Several people in the "problem boat" tried to escape (unsuccessfully) by wading in the water which was a couple of feet deep. In the early 70's during and after our college years, when softball was king in Salem - Tim organized and played on several teams and was a good player. Shortly after HS he married Jean Gotchall ( SS 1971) and I believe they had a daughter. For about 20 years the Geibels would have these Giant Christmas partys with 40 or 50 SS alums. The Geibel / Elfstrom fishing stories were hilarious, including the time a baby deer came into their camp and tried to hump one of them! The last time I saw Tim - was at Geibel's memorial service in Jan. 2019 at Illahe. Thanx for providing some great HS memories.
Robert Curtis
Simply known as the "coot". A name given to him our senior year by his best LIFELONG fishing buddy.....Dale Geibel. The "coot" morphed into "cootus" - was very much part of the South Salem party crowd our senior year. Fishing was his passion - and he worked for Fitts Seafood store in his later years. "Fitting" wouldn't you say?!! Not a close friend = but I seemed to be around him a lot - as we hung with the same crowd in HS. His closest friends were Charlie Bello, Bob Judson, and Geibel. One memory to share,,,,,In late august 1969 his father bought him a brand new Chevrolet El Camino SS396 i.e. very fast, for a graduation gift. On a beautiful august night he showed up in front of my house with about 20 other "wild indians" along with Ron Wiebe and his "older" El Camino. "We're heading to the fair" they scream. We picked up Bob Judson (my neighbor) and off we went with about 10 people per car - most in the back. I remember it being scary as Tim's El camino was fast and he was showing everyone what it could do! When we got to the fair - we ALL decided to jump the fence and not pay. Several people chased us in all directions - but couldn't catch us.We then proceeded to cause much mayhem. Charlie Bello had the great idea to steal some darts from the balloon throwing booth and throw them at the helium balloons that the vendors were holding and selling. The "coot" tried to grab a handfull of darts from the booth - and the great big mean looking "carnie" woman running the booth grabbed him by the neck and slapped him in the face really HARD leaving a big red mark! While this was going on - Kerry Morris grabbed some darts and off we went. We then proceeded to the FFA displays and stole their prized vegetables and eggs from the poultry bins for "throwing" ammunition. The finale was in the tunnel of love - where everyone was jumping from boat to boat and too many people got in ONE BOAT and the thing sank and jammed up the ride. The guy running the ride waded in with a flashlight and was pissed / screaming at everyone. Several people in the "problem boat" tried to escape (unsuccessfully) by wading in the water which was a couple of feet deep. In the early 70's during and after our college years, when softball was king in Salem - Tim organized and played on several teams and was a good player. Shortly after HS he married Jean Gotchall ( SS 1971) and I believe they had a daughter. For about 20 years the Geibels would have these Giant Christmas partys with 40 or 50 SS alums. The Geibel / Elfstrom fishing stories were hilarious, including the time a baby deer came into their camp and tried to hump one of them! The last time I saw Tim - was at Geibel's memorial service in Jan. 2019 at Illahe. Thanx for providing some great HS memories.