The KNIGHT GALLERY
with your host Paul Knight
"Good Evening
Ladies and Gentlemen, Submitted for your approval, this site is intended for
anyone to share their story, stories and what have you, it is not intended as a
"shrine to myself", though that was the original idea. I submit, if you
will, ladies and
gentlemen, that you take a little time and consider submitting to the
"Knight Gallery". It need not be fancy schmancy {I only ask that you
Title your work}...thank you, your host ,.,Paul V. Knight
."Yes They Call Him The Streak"
..allright, this one was
during the 1973-1974 School Year? There was something major going on in the
gym, not an assembly as such, as there were people milling around on the floor
too, was it the mini-course thing? so anyway that song the Streak was popular,
and streaking itself was a fad or whatever. Well right there during this "event"
where most of the entire student body was in the gym. there was a commotion and
things like "A Streaker" "LOOK A REAL STREAKER!" and I could see a male figure
running around on the gym floor, holding something around his head. And he was
"stark raving naked" running through the crowd, flipping and flopping, and
wiggling all over the place for everyone too see. He then made his exit. down
the concrete stairs that the basketball team used. People were amazed--a real
streaker!. As some may know it was a friend of mine, and many others--one Mike
Wilson (LRHS '76) He told me later that he was holding his clothing around his
head, to hide his face, and of course to have his clothes handy
after escaping--pretty brilliant Mike--And Mike, "we were all very proud of
you son" He did fancy himself as quite the dare-devil. Speaking of Mike Wilson
Naked, another story comes to mind. Out at Banks Lake, not the "Rocks" or the
main beach, but another place where there was a boat ramp, and a huge boulder,
going from the shore into the water. Well it was at night, a few guys a few
girls, maybe some pot and or beer, I don't quite recall. Mike Wilson then
announced that he was going to do a suicide dive off the boulder, and you
guessed it "stark raving naked". Now this was in the month of March, mind you, and at night. (A suicide dive is where you fall spread eagle/belly flop style and at the last
moment "cover up" before hitting the water. Anyway he did it and came out of the water all laughing and whatnot. Good Work Mike Wilson.
"The Guy from Pomeroy"
O.K. Summer 1970---Doug Wright
moves to Elmer City from Pomeroy. Bill Hipkiss and Myself are the first couple of guys he meets. We had a sleep out, probably in Bill's yard, you know sleeping bags and snacks and that bit. We decided to sneak up to the Coulee Dam Pool,
for a free after hours swim quite late and after dark. I don't recall if we "stuffed" our sleeping bags or not (to appear that we were in them asleep, in case of being checked on) because I did this sort of thing so
many times. Anyway, so then we snuck off on our long foot treck.. We got up by Tillman's store and wanted to not be spotted by any parents or cops, there were some headlights turning our way, and we hid beside a feed storage thing standing on a concrete ledge. Well, after the car was gone,
I turn and Doug is also gone . "I'm down here" He had fallen backwards off
this ledge, I don't know like 13 feet or something. into bushes, rocks cardboard-whatever rubble was down there. We ran down to where he had fallen thinking "Oh shit, the gig's up, he must be really hurt. Doug then
emerged from the shadowy rubble. I think he got scraped up and bruised a bit, pretty good like. He kind of dusted himself off and looked and checked himself out for wounds, which he had, and then he casually says "oh, it's not that bad let's go ahead." I was thinking "man--this guy from Pomeroy is something else". We proceeded to walk all the way to the pool to sneak a swim and make it back undetected. In hindsight I wonder if the chlorine stung a bit there Doug? There were other night-time pools stories, as many people did this, in fact I know I showed up one night with a small entourage, and there was already someone else swimming, and it was
like "oh hey, how's it going--how's the water tonight?" The problem was when people would use the diving boards, they were so loud, with the sound bouncing off that huge rock cliff.(Brilliant place for a pool--the sun would go down (behind the cliff) right after 5 o clock.) Another time in I think 1974 the cops came, as they often would, with their flashlights shining and waving, almost as though they wanted to give us a chance to
get away, which I always did. I would get my clothes together when the diving board stuff would start. On one such occasion I escaped through the tennis court and was coming out of the gate by the parking lot. Right then a cop(one we liked)came from behind the bushes onto the sidewalk and
caught two fast running, very wet figures, one in each arm, (an amazing feat as they were both running)right as I passed behind him. And the officer said "Whoa Laddies". Dude Chapman and I think Ron Storm were the "Laddies".
Dude squirmed away, and escaped, and I don't know what happened with the rest
of them. I don't think they liked to bother prosecuting
this sort of thing.
DUANE HERE…In addition to Pauls story, a couple times we would go skinny dippin at night, as the pool was where we were trained to be Spring Canyon and Steamboat Life Guards.
"Peepers"
7th grade Columbia School. One 8th grade friend of mine told me that if you laid down by the window well at the beginning or near the end of Girls P.E. that you could see right in the shower-locker room. I didn't believe it at first but I guess it was true. I passed on this one. I didn't want to get caught doing something like that-plus the risk factor of getting caught was very high, as where they had to lay was right out in the lawn, in the open, and during class time. I believe they did get caught. And I would at least like to think that someone would finally whitewash the windows or something, I mean this was like 1970, and the school had been there for decades. Kind of creepy huh? Sorry Girls...it wasn't me. and no I don't know who saw what ........
"EARLY 60s ELMER CITY"
STEVE TILLMAN
We had our bikes.
Bikes were all important in the second grade. You needed a bike in Elmer City, and you needed to be good to Don Bonertz at the Texaco station to get your flat tires fixed. If he didn't charge you to patch your tire, you would have money for caps, BB's, and penny candy. You needed a bike to cruise down Williams Street and see your friends. In the winter, you needed a sled. Williams Street was THE happening place in Elmer City. In the winter, Williams Street hosted the Pickle Pin Sled Race. Winning the Pickle Pin Race meant you got to keep a small green Heinz pickle lapel pin for a year. What a prize.
Nobody actually wore the pickle pin. I imagined keeping it in my top drawer. Right there with my "clearie" marbles, rattlesnake rattles, center adapters for 45 records and model glue. The Pickle Pin Race was a tough challenge for us. The race was dominated by Rollie Minter and Clark Friend. They were older, heavier and faster. They customized their Flexible Flyer sleds. If by chance you did get ahead before the finish, they would slide up behind you, grab your sled rails and tip you over. You were out of the race. There were no rules for the pickle pin race, other than you had to cross the finish line first. I never won. I figured you needed to be at least in the sixth grade to win. By that time, the pickle pin was long lost. Spring fall and summer, you could bike down Williams Street and see your friends. You could play with their toys. Nobody in Elmer City had all the cool toys, but you could find most of them on a half day trip down Williams Street. Fred Wilson, Ray McClain, Ricky Reamer, Paul Knight and Todd Rice lived on Williams Street. The Friends, Finches and Hamiltons lived there too.
What a place. Rock-em Sock-em Robots, "SixFinger", Vue-Masters and Matchbox cars could all be found on Williams Street. Good stuff. I didn't have Rock-em Sock-em Robots, or a "Six Finger" spy toy, but I did have a "Give-a-Show Projector" and the Mousetrap game. I don't know if we ever actually played the mousetrap game, but we would assemble it and watch.the marble trip the mechanical parts all day. The game was useless when you lost the marble. It needed a special marble to work right. When we lost the marble, I think I took the game outside, coated it with model glue and set it on fire. I don't recall what year it was, but there came a specific moment in time when the pickle pin, cool toys, bikes and sled no longer mattered. Elmer City was no longer the same. It was the day Debbie Sanders got a color television set. I couldn't wait until Monday. I had to talk to Debby. The Wonderful World of Disney was on, in color, on Sunday night. The opening credits had the fireworks, the castle and splashes of glorious color. I had to know everything. What was it like in color? What did Kurt Russell and Hayley Mills really look like? How good was it? How about the commercials...were they in color?
Then there was the Wizard of Oz. I don't remember how old I was, but I know I was young enough to still be diving behind the couch when the witch appeared. After the initial B&W Kansas scenes, Flying monkeys, ruby slippers...poppies and emerald city. All in color. At Debbie's house, not mine. Dang. I made Debby describe the Wizard of Oz in detail. In color. At the time, we had three televisions stations, from Spokane. KREM (2) KXLY(4) and KHQ(6) We loved TV, except when our parents made us watch Starlit Stairway. I hated that show. And if I need "fuel or oil", I'm NOT going to call Boyle. Fairfax 8, 15-21. No way. Never. We had Captain Cy, and Wallaby and Jack. Rawhide and Combat. These shows were not in color. Black, white and various shades of gray. They were better at Debbie's house. With a color TV, the black and white shows had a green hue. Which was cool. I tried to replicate the effect by looking through colored plastic, or give-a-show projector slides. It wasn't the same. Color TV was it. Debby Sanders had it.
Child life in Elmer City was great. Lots of things to do, lots of friends I'm still in touch with. Of all the toys, good stuff and experiences we had though, Debbie Sanders had us all beat. She had color TV.
"What I did last summer (for the last 30 years)"
by Bobertruce (as Paul Knight recently dubbed me)
“Bruce” 4th-6th grades, “Bob” in 9th -11th and “Robert” long after I last saw you all because at the time, the store I was working in had 4 Bobs and all of us would show up on occasion in response to a page.
First off, I wish I could have stayed and graduated with all of you. I went so far as to land a job, buy a car and make arrangements for a dive in Grand Coulee to live in, but my folks wouldn’t hear of it. I should have stayed in touch with some of you but I was kind of bitter about having to move yet again and especially entering my Senior year. I basically kept in touch with no one. We moved to Cheney from where I actually graduated. This 30th reunion for LRHS will mark the first reunion I have attended for either school and I am looking forward to it.
If I were to go back and make an entry for myself in the annual, it would be the “Person most likely to hold way to many jobs.” While in the Dam zone, I worked at the Coulee House Motel, Gene’s Thrift (Greg Zowada and I delivered grocery flyers in some miserable weather for a pittance), Safeway in Grand Coulee and then in Cheney. At Safeway in Cheney I had it about as good as it gets as far as working goes. I managed to talk them into weekends off, during which I taught skiing. Wow, 8-5 M-F making decent money with benefits and getting paid to ski on the weekend. Perfect! If course nothing perfect ever lasts forever and when the manager from Hell took over the store in Cheney, the fun came to an end. Since then I have worked for 4 grocery chains, sold motorcycles, sprayed pesticides for the WA Dept. of Agriculture, sold ski equipment, run a lawn and garden department, sold pesticides wholesale and was the “Ortho answer man”, managed a hardware store, repaired PCs and installed networks, and stood in line at the Unemployment Office waiting to be called for day jobs. After all of that, I worked for Delta Air Lines for 17 years starting in Spokane and then Dallas TX, Hartford CT, Louisville KY, South Bend IN, Salt Lake City UT, Portland OR and Baton Rouge LA; by which time the company had finally disintegrated to the point that I couldn’t stand working for them any longer. I was working for Delta during 9/11 and was that ever a trip. I am now working for INO Therapeutics distributing INOmax ( a prescription gas used to treat Respiratory Hypertension in preemies ).
I met my wife, Chris in Spokane in 1984 and we got hitched 3 years later on the 4th of July. Hey, a guy needs some help remembering you know! We passed on having kids, opting for a small zoo over the years. Our children currently consist of just one screw-loose cat.
Chris holds 3 AA degrees and is currently working on obtaining her Bachelors degree. I popped in and out of SCC and Eastern but could never decide on what I wanted to be. I still haven’t, but intend to get some, any, degree as soon as she has finished.
We will make it back to the Northwest, but not soon enough.
The incriminating and wild stuff, or, “The naďve kid moved to the city”.
The only time I can remember getting in trouble at school was with Mrs. Burns in 4th grade for playing catch with a softball rolling it up and over the roof of the school. I don’t remember who the other terrorist was.
1971, 8th grade dance at Columbia School. I remember that we wore out “Hey Jude”. Damn cool song. What a great group. I had never heard of the Beatles (or nearly anyone else as we only had a small AM radio and no turntable) and didn’t know they had already broken up! I didn’t even know at the time who Chicago, Bread, or the Byrds were even though we were playing and singing their songs in band and choir. I still think the particular song selections were lame.
At 14, I discovered the cigarette machine in the foyer of the Coulee House Motel. 50 cents a pack for Marlboros back then. I would to go up to the water tower to choke on them. Steve Doppler turned a nice shade of green and quit on the same one he started with. I finally quit them for good 8 years ago.
Got all hyped up on Kung Fu (like everyone else Grasshopper) and got a few throwing stars stuck in the oak front doors on Civic Way. I had to use pliers to get them out!
I don’t remember who else was in Driver’s Ed with me but they might remember that I was terrified of the monster Caprice Classic with a 454 4bbl under the 5 acre hood and power everything. My folks Mercedes (anyone remember the white diesel) had all of 50hp, a 4 on the tree and power nothing. Times changed. For a while, anything I was on or in was checked for top speed. I collected green stamps from the WSP like they were from S&H for a few years. Drove 360 miles across Wyoming in 3 hours once upon a cross country trip without getting nailed. Do the math!
I forgot about the late night swims at the pool until reading Paul’s byline. Ran from the flashlights a couple times myself. Anyone else remember an incident on the soccer field with Del Ostenberg grabbing “someone” (I remember who) by the jockstrap, snatching them off of the ground and swing them around a few times? It had to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen although I’m sure it was quite uncomfortable for the recipient at the time. In ’76 I found a bar in Cheney that would serve me and did for the next couple of years. I guarantee I didn’t look 21, but I guess the bartender figured if I could handle shots of whiskey he wouldn’t turn me away.
Discovered motorcycles in ’77 and then weed, shrooms and a few others. Take a look at my ski pass. I went in for a hair perm, a few waves, nothing drastic. Shrooms and a perm get you an Afro. Wow! Who would have thunk. BTW, I have no recollection of what my brain was on when the pass pic was taken….or my Eastern ID. Since those days, working for the airline and now with a commercial driver’s license, I have had to supply way too many samples. Bummer.
My first airplane, in Idaho, before moving to C.D. I couldn’t see out of and freaked. Second airplane, a Cessna, in Spokane with a crazy ex-navy carrier jockey; I flew it after a 20 minute walk around and briefing…I mean take-off and landing too! Holy &%$^! Third airplane, up around Colville, I jumped out of after a 15 minute ground class. With two other buds on some “bud”. Static line, but not tandem. What a trip!
I will categorically remember denying that I wrote any of this. What have I got to worry about any way. A past Prez admits to toking, we have a DUI in La Casa Blanca now and the statute of limitations takes care of the rest.
J Peace J
Jay Rawley explains about
My take on the "Take Line"
Ok, writing was never my subject. Just ask Mrs. Parlett, Mrs. Burns, Mrs. Milliken, Mr. Gardener, Miss Arbon, Mr. Ells, or even my current employer. The list goes on. But here goes anyway…
I grew up on Yucca street. To me it seemed like it went on forever….or at least down to the left power house at the Dam, where my dad worked. I learned to ride a trike, then a bike on Yucca street. And drive. It was easy…nice and straight.
About 1967 we heard that “they”, (the Bureau of Reclamation) needed more room for something called the Third Powerhouse, (wasn’t two enough?). Pretty soon the words “take & line” were a part of our vocabulary. At first nobody, or at least me, knew for sure where this “take line” was going to run. But we found out. Since our house was spared, I personally don’t know how everyone was told, but it couldn’t have been good, although come to think of it, I think some people actually made money on the deal… But there was another upside. By summer 1968, what we had on our hands a world class playground. A lot of houses were moved, like Frank Woodbury’s from Crest drive. It seems like Mrs. Burns interrupted class to let us 4th graders watch Franks house weave it’s way around the sand pile, hoping that it somehow would fall off. But once the houses that were moving were moved…that was when it got interesting….
It was like a real life war zone down there, an 11 year olds dream come true. You want to go walk around in Frank Woodbury’s basement?...without his house blocking the view? Not a problem. Basements left open where a house had been, never mind the asbestos. Some houses were demolished on the spot, but the houses that were left, were open game. Pretty much a “no girls allowed” situation. I found an old Underwood typewriter in someone’s basement and drug it home. Probably on my bike. I think my dad still has it. I remember Greg Zowada and I breaking all the windows out of several abandoned houses, (sorry Greg)…all in a days work. Sean Golden and I also logged many miles on our mighty Schwinns, down Yucca, with cards in the spokes for extra noise factor. Carol Winiecki lived there too, and her house was also spared, and although I’m not sure, I don’t remember her breaking any windows. But like The Beatles, Calcium Cyclamates, and (thankfully) ‘N Sync, all good things must come to an end. Sometime in late ’68 like the Berlin wall, up went the chain link making access to our personal ground zero difficult, (but not impossible!) Alright Steve, you Elmer City boys had Williams street, and for a while we had Yucca, but after the take line took it’s toll, it was never quite the same.
Well, Mrs. Burns…uh, I guess you was right.
"Duane EXPOSES himself"
by the Exposer, Duane Dimock
Sophomore at EWU (Eastern Washington University, Cheney WA), Fall 1976. Basically, I am a lazy guy, am always looking for the easiest (scientifically referred to as the least path of resistance) way to do something. During my 7 year era of playing college, I mostly wanted to read / collect comics, play tennis, ride bikes, hit ping pong balls, collect records and eat cereal. But most these endeavourers took money, and that money was only found during summer jobs and would run out very fast.
So... I took it upon myself to look for a college campus job. I knew the jobs I didn't want to do, like work at the cafeteria called Tawanka , washing, serving or whatever. And I didn't want to do janitorial stuff, monitoring buildings, lawn maintenance or anything where I really had to work. My choices were small for plush jobs, but as I was scanning over the job postings .... low un behold, there was the highest paying job on the list! I could not believe how much they were paying for the easiest job on campus! I could do this work with my hands tied behind my back, in fact it was gong to be fun!
I went to the interview, answered a few questions and didn't even have to show them any experience or resume. I was hired instantly on the spot. My first shift was at 10:00 AM Monday morning. I walked into the class, asked the teacher where I was to go and was pointed over to a curtained area. I jokingly replied to the pointing, "I don't need no stinky curtains" and proceeded to undress myself in front of the class. The job was a nude model for Art classes. Well, I stood around for a few more minutes, as some students were still coming in. As I was watching the last kids come in, I immediately recognized a cute girl walk through the door. It was Vicki Vance. All very amusing to me, I nudily said "Hi Vicki, What are you dong in this class, I didn't know you were in here!". Well, I know she didn't have to wonder why I was in the Art class, and ya know I don't even remember what she said, if anything or what color she turned, if any.
I had a few more classes with Vicki, as the models rotated around in the different Art classes. She drew me a few times, as I'd always go around and look at the drawings the students would do. The modeling turned out to be one of the hardest jobs I have had. Unbeknown to me, when you hold a pose for more than 10 minutes, it becomes very hard and painful to hold. Even sitting and not moving is difficult. So... the easiest job did not turn out to be... as easy as I thought.
I would always say hi or stop and talk to Vicki on campus and she would do the same for me.
You will have to ask Vicki what she remembers (if anything) , as I have retired from that occupation.
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