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Archive for the ‘In memory’ Category

“We will all meet again”

Posted in Football, In memory, tagged , , , , on October 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

CHS athletes and classmates (l to r) Mitch Pelroy, Rhiannon Ellsworth and Adam Garcia enjoy a moment together. (Photo courtesy Rhiannon Ellsworth)

   CHS athletes and classmates (l to r) Mitch Pelroy, Rhiannon Ellsworth and Adam Garcia enjoy a happy moment together. (Photo courtesy Rhiannon Ellsworth)

He will not be forgotten.

Taken away from friends and family after a tragic murder in Oak Harbor, former Coupeville High School football player Adam Garcia will live on in their memories and through his beautiful young daughter.

The thoughts of some that knew him, in their own words:

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Rhiannon Ellsworth:

Adam was always good at football; that’s how I officially met him, I was on his football team.

He never really liked the fact that there was girls on the team but he was still nice and helped me when I needed it.

He didn’t have to know you or even like you very much, he’d still want you to have a good time.

He was rare; he could hang with the meanest crowd, but still have time to be good to people.

Adam welcomed me into his home and to his life at one point back then; I would have never thought a loving and good man like him would go so young.

He will be forever missed by family and friends, but we will all meet again … just not yet.

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Danny Savalza:

Adam was a great friend, teammate, young man and father.

On the gridiron we were both running backs. He worked hard and ran harder.

Off the field he always had your back, no matter what the circumstance or situation.

Always would greet me with a smile and a handshake.

Rest In Paradise Adam Garcia, you will be greatly missed and never forgotten.

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Tony Maggio:

Your coaches are heartbroken Adam Garcia.

Seems like yesterday we were talking about your baby, and how hard it was being a teenage father, but you were overcoming.

I will miss his smile.

Pray for his mother, and that whoever murdered him is caught.

RIP 33.

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Korbin Korzan:

That was a great year. Had so much fun playing along side this big guy.

Rest easy Adam, love you bro.

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Bobbie Massengale:

I give my deepest condolences to the family.

I remember his smile and kindness to others when I had the opportunity to watch him when I was the lunch lady up at the cafeteria.

I also remember the games I have watched; my daughter happened to be one of his teammates.

He was a good kid and I will always remember this sweet young lad.

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Aaron Nell:

Going to miss you brother.

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Charlie Toth:

Rest peacefully. You have obviously left a positive mark on the world in your much-too-short life.

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Good night, prickly pear

Posted in In memory, tagged , , , on October 19, 2014| 1 Comment »

Kathy Marley and one of her grandchildren.

Kathy Marley and one of her grandchildren.

She was a prickly pear. In the best sense possible.

Kathy Marley was always more about butt-kickin’ than butt-kissin’.

The very first customer I ever had at Videoville, on Oct. 4, 1994, she became a third mom (Miriam Meyer, who owned the store, was my second mom).

Over the years, if she said one thing to me more than anything else it was a short, sardonic “Stop being an idiot!” while cocking an eyebrow at me.

Followed by a smile and a smack to the back of the head.

She said that many, many, maaaaannnnnnnyyyyy times to me, and, to her credit, kept on saying it long after she had figured out I was always going to be an idiot, regardless of what she said or did.

There were times when we saw each other on a daily basis, and times when months would go by without any contact, but Mrs. Marley was always there for me, easy to reach and always willing to be chafed … to a point.

She tried her best to get me to be more responsible, with my money and my decisions in life. But she also let me fall flat on my face when it was needed, because how else do you learn.

When I was at my best, during the glory days of renting 500 VHS films on a Friday night in Cow Town, she was there.

When I was at my worst, working 10-hour days without a break for 144 days in a row and throwing my money away on DVD’s instead of food and propane, compromising my health and sanity for a stupid vendetta over a silly off-hand comment, she was there.

Except when she would go to the food bank and then slide by, leaving food in the back of my car, without saying anything about it.

She was a rock, to her family, to friends, to those of us who she decided, against her better judgement, to adopt.

She was tough love with a sardonic smile. A good woman whose body gave out long before her spirit ever did.

She will be missed, greatly.

And, from time to time, if some of you feel like smacking me in the back of the head, go ahead and cap it by saying “Mrs. Marley says hi. Now stop being an idiot.”

Cause that’s the way she would have wanted it.

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A tip of the hat to “the competition!!”

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, In memory, tagged , , , on June 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Don't tell anyone, but I shared some of the cookies liberated

  Don’t tell anyone, but of the hundreds of cookies I received this spring from CHS moms, a few were shared with my Whidbey News-Times “rival.” (Shelli Trumbull photo)

It’s true — I like to poke the Evil Empire up in Canada that owns the three Whidbey newspapers.

And yes, I once cashed checks from them back in my misbegotten youth. We all have our youthful indiscretions.

But never think that I am poking the guy who is doing the same job for those papers that I am, covering sports.

Jim Waller, the Sports Editor of the Whidbey News-Times (whose articles also run in the shadow paper that calls itself the Whidbey Examiner) was my high school journalism teacher during the extra semester I spent at Oak Harbor High School after my dad moved us out of Tumwater mid-way through my senior year (long story).

He is the person most directly responsible for my journalism career — and a lot of my editors since that point would like to have a long discussion with him about that, outside, behind the building, about now — getting me in the door of the News-Times at 18.

I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Waller, as a teacher, as a Hall of Fame high school baseball coach and as a journalist.

The man is a consummate pro, the quiet, elegant flip side of the coin to my frequently hyperventilating, gossipy Dennis the Menace approach to sports coverage.

With that being said, I just wanted to direct you to something he wrote recently. It was timed to Father’s Day, but it slipped past me somehow and I just noticed it the other day.

It’s a reflection piece on the life and times of his dad, Mert Waller, maybe the single most influential coach to ever work on Whidbey Island.

My path crossed with the senior Waller during his later days, when he had moved to being an assistant baseball coach for his son on Wildcat teams that I covered for the News-Times.

He was a class act through and through, a great guy, and that comes through vividly in the article Mr. Waller wrote.

Go take a look at it. It’s well worth your time.

http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/sports/263081711.html

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In the end, there is only love!!

Posted in In memory, Softball, Whidbey's Best on September 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Stacie Farmer

Stacie Farmer

Stacie Farmer passed away three years ago today, but she never really left us.

Her physical body was unable to overcome a horrifying accident that claimed her on what would have been her 24th birthday.

But today, on Sept. 15, a day that, in a cruel twist, marks both the beginning and end of her journey here on Earth, her light still shines brightly.

The Coupeville High School grad, a splendid softball player for the Wolves during her time at CHS, is 27 today and being remembered in many places.

Which is appropriate for a fearless, graceful young woman who spread love and hope with her as she skipped merrily across the globe.

From The Rock to a river in West Virginia to a mountain top in a foreign land, Stacie reached out to everyone she met with the same attitude.

She embraced people, and they embraced her back.

Stacie loved with an open heart, and whether you were a young child who looked up at her, her face ringed by her wild dreadlocks, a smile beaming down at you, or a complete stranger she passed for but a moment, as she waved at you as she rolled by, you were better for the contact with her.

It would be better, in every way, if she was with her family and friends for her 27th birthday. This is not debatable.

But she can’t be here — in person at least — and so she is remembered every time a friend thinks of her.

Every time someone tells a story about her. Every time someone, anyone, takes a moment from their life to just be, in the moment, and make life better for those around them.

We can’t all be Stacie Farmer, but we can at the same time.

We can help others, we can raise their spirits, we can give them a piece of ourselves, the piece that honors her favorite words — bhavuta sabba mangalam — may all beings be happy.

Do something for someone else. Make their life a better place.

Don’t let Farm Dog’s legacy fade away.

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Wolf Nation honors fallen Falcon coach!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, In memory, Whidbey's Best on September 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Wolf players (l to r) Anthony Bergeron, Aaron Trumbull, Joel Walstad, Jared Helmstadter, Isaac Vargas and ? (Shelli Trumbull photo.

Wolf players (l to r) Anthony Bergeron, Aaron Trumbull, Joel Walstad, Jared Helmstadter, Isaac Vargas and Morgan Payne. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

South and Central Whidbey stand together for Henry Pope and his family.

South and Central Whidbey stand together for Henry Pope and his family.

One hoop, one Island.

Coming together as one, basketball players from the entire length of Whidbey Island converged on Langley Sunday to honor the legacy of South Whidbey High School hoops coach Henry Pope.

Taking part in “Hoops for Henry,” a group of Coupeville High School players brought a touch of red and black to a fundraiser for the family of the Falcon legend, who passed away suddenly earlier this year.

For one day, while the action on the court was still intense as always, it didn’t matter whether you were South or Central. There was only one Whidbey, and it stood with the Pope family.

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