|
Posted by Leonard Peete: Kurt and I were gymasts together throughout Junior High, High School and 4 years of college. We were co-captains of the Millikan team. Kurt was a good friend who went in a different direction in life from mine and we lost contact after college. I will always remember him as having a great sense of humor and love of life. I wish I had stayed in contact before he passed. I learned of his passing from his children (two sons and a daughter) whom I finally was able to contact.
Classmate John Parker reported that Kurt Hartell died on 1/13/14 in Hemet, CA.
|
Kelly Scott
Kurt was the first person I met at Patrick Henry Elementary in 1957. I joined his Kindergarten class some weeks past the first day of school. So after the teacher introduced me to a class full of strangers, Kurt took it upon himself to befriend me and show me around. I seem to remember Kurt pointing out a home directly across the street from our classroom’s play yard surrounded with hedges and telling me, "that's my house." (Conant?) My distant neighborhod meant we'd remain friendly, but not close. Some twenty years later, I boarded a PSA flight headed back to Long Beach from Reno, NV. I had been working as a slo-mo operator for ESPN covering a Gymnastics Meet. As I plopped down in my aisle seat and settled in, Kurt, seated directly across from me and I recognized each other immediately. I can't recall his official role at the meet, but we spent the short flight catching up with each other. I was struck by how Kurt was still the happy, enthusiastic guy who had made such an impression upon me all those years ago by just being himself, a thoughtful, outgoing, friendly guy. Thank you Kurt and rest in peace.
.