It has been said that death is the end of all things. From the dust of the earth came our flesh, and back to the earth it will return. Great Nature gives, but only for a while. The circle of like goes on, but not we.
And so it shall be for Walter White at the end of the series, or so we suspect. What else could be meant by that look on Hank's face that brought the first half of season 5 to a close?
So tarry, my friend, for awhile and tell us how the series will end.
Me at the Pen 2010
© PEN American Center/Susan Horgan. All rights reserved. Please contact media@pen.org for usage and rights.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Game of Thrones Dragon Head
Get ready. Here it comes. Dragon. Come to think of it, I have a story called "I Am Dragon" in John Dufresne's collection "Blue Christmas."
______________
A 40-foot “dragon skull” was placed on Charmouth beach in the UK by video streaming service blinkbox to celebrate the arrival of the third season of Game of Thrones. The beach was chosen because dinosaur fossils have been found there in the past.
The sculpture, which is the size of a London bus, surprised fossil hunters, holiday makers and local dog walkers on the Dorset beach. A team of three sculptors spent over two months designing, constructing and painting the skull, which measures 40ft long by 8ft wide and stands over 9ft tall. Ben Ayers from blinkbox said:
______________________
Game of Thrones is easily the most talked about TV show of the moment. We wanted to mark its arrival on blinkbox with a spectacle every bit as dramatic as this amazing series. We’re expecting this season to be hugely popular as the previous two series top the TV charts on blinkbox every week and we have season 3 months before it will available on DVD or Blu-ray.
Read more at PSFK.com
______________
A 40-foot “dragon skull” was placed on Charmouth beach in the UK by video streaming service blinkbox to celebrate the arrival of the third season of Game of Thrones. The beach was chosen because dinosaur fossils have been found there in the past.
The sculpture, which is the size of a London bus, surprised fossil hunters, holiday makers and local dog walkers on the Dorset beach. A team of three sculptors spent over two months designing, constructing and painting the skull, which measures 40ft long by 8ft wide and stands over 9ft tall. Ben Ayers from blinkbox said:
______________________
Game of Thrones is easily the most talked about TV show of the moment. We wanted to mark its arrival on blinkbox with a spectacle every bit as dramatic as this amazing series. We’re expecting this season to be hugely popular as the previous two series top the TV charts on blinkbox every week and we have season 3 months before it will available on DVD or Blu-ray.
Read more at PSFK.com
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Only God Forgives
That title. What does it mean? Hmmmmm. Sounds Interesting.
_____________
“Ryan Gosling and 'Drive' director reunite for 'Only God Forgives”
By RENE RODRIGUEZ
The Miami Herald
MIAMI - At first glance, "Only God Forgives," director Nicolas Winding Refn's follow-up to his highly acclaimed 2011 crime drama "Drive," appears to be more of the same: Ryan Gosling once again stars as a man of few words who gets dragged into the criminal underworld, with Bangkok replacing Los Angeles this time.
Ten minutes in, though, you realize that the new movie is an entirely different beast - a more primal, brutal, near-plotless experience.
"There's a record I really love called 'Metal Machine Music' by Lou Reed," Refn says. "It's an album he made after 'Transformer,' which was a wonderful, lyrical record. But with 'Metal Machine Music,' what you hear is what you get - just guitar feedback mixed at different speeds. I thought it would be interesting to make a film that worked in a similar way, a movie almost designed like a pin-up magazine that was purely about what arouses me and what frightens me."
Like Reed's record, the result is much less accessible than Refn's previous films. "Only God Forgives," which co-stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Gosling's monstrous mother and Vithaya Pansringarm as a cop who metes out justice like an avenging angel, was booed by some critics when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the same place where Refn won the Best Director prize for "Drive" two years earlier. Among the most common complaints was the film was laughably pretentious, hollow and needlessly violent.
"A lot of people have seen the film and immediately dismissed it," says Thomas, whose flamboyantly evil character was designed as a cross between Lady Macbeth and Donatella Versace. "But then they wake up the next morning, and the movie is still in their heads. People watch movies on different levels, but the surface level of this one is not the most interesting. It's a film that needs a great deal of personal interpretation. It has this way of getting into your head, because it's so beautiful but also so frightening. If you can give into it and stop worrying about plot and stuff like that, you will have an amazing experience."
Thomas, who is usually cast in tony, upscale dramas ("The English Patient," "Gosford Park"), admits she initially thought her agent had made a mistake when he sent her the script and she read it. But she took the role after watching some of Refn's previous films, including "Bronson" and "Valhalla Rising." Her volcanic performance as a manipulative, demanding shrew with a voracious sense of entitlement and no redeeming qualities is unlike any she's given before.
"It was hard to play, because she is so outrageous and unpleasant and horrible," Thomas says of her character. "There is a scene in which Ryan meets me at a restaurant for dinner and brings a prostitute as his date. Nicolas said we needed something really horrible for me to say to her. He asked us 'What's the worst thing you've ever heard someone say to describe a woman?' Ryan suggested that word (a profane sexual slur). But I couldn't say it. I just couldn't. I kept flubbing the line, and we had to do multiple takes. You start feeling down when you have to be mean to people all the time. I wanted to have something nice to say!"
Unlike Thomas, Gosling didn't have much dialogue to wrangle: His character in "Only God Forgives" speaks even less than his taciturn driver in "Drive."
"Silent acting is the oldest form of acting in the world," Refn says. "But it's also the hardest to play, because we're used to using words to make the audience understand what's happening. Silence makes it much more about interpretation. Because there was so much attention paid to Gosling's stillness in 'Drive,' there's this perception that his performance in this movie is just the same thing.
"But 'Drive' was designed entirely around that character's silence. This one is very different. Ryan and I talked about the idea of a man who is chained to his mother and controlled by her. It's almost as if she's put a spell on him and has taken away his willpower. He's like the sleepwalker in 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.' It's an extreme and heightened reality.
"People tend to forget that Hamlet is a man who has no will of his own. He's constantly pushed around by other people who are taking advantage of him. But audiences are used to seeing male protagonists in movies be all about action and decisiveness. That's what defines the gender. Just because you reverse that doesn't mean you remove the urgency of the story. It just becomes quiet. And that can be very provocative, especially nowadays, because filmmaking has become so traditional and conventional. This movie requires you to engage with it in a different way than most other movies and interpret things for yourself. That's when art becomes interesting."
Although there isn't anything quite as graphic as the elevator scene in "Drive," "Only God Forgives" has moments of hair-raising violence, although a lot of the brutality happens outside the frame this time, making you think you've seen more than you did.
Still, there are sequences in which the camera doesn't look away, including a surreal torture scene inside an elegant karaoke bar that is as hard to watch as the ear slicing in "Reservoir Dogs."
"There's a great satisfaction in watching cinematic violence," Refn says. "It's designed in a way that feels like this great release. It arouses us. We fear it, but we also accept it as a savior. It can be very pleasurable or very horrifying. The violence in this film has a sexual aesthetic to it. The character of the policeman is like God walking the Earth, the Old Testament version of God. Even though we're taught not to enjoy the oldest form of justice, which is an eye for an eye, we're still rooted in it and take pleasure from it."
_____________
“Ryan Gosling and 'Drive' director reunite for 'Only God Forgives”
By RENE RODRIGUEZ
The Miami Herald
MIAMI - At first glance, "Only God Forgives," director Nicolas Winding Refn's follow-up to his highly acclaimed 2011 crime drama "Drive," appears to be more of the same: Ryan Gosling once again stars as a man of few words who gets dragged into the criminal underworld, with Bangkok replacing Los Angeles this time.
Ten minutes in, though, you realize that the new movie is an entirely different beast - a more primal, brutal, near-plotless experience.
"There's a record I really love called 'Metal Machine Music' by Lou Reed," Refn says. "It's an album he made after 'Transformer,' which was a wonderful, lyrical record. But with 'Metal Machine Music,' what you hear is what you get - just guitar feedback mixed at different speeds. I thought it would be interesting to make a film that worked in a similar way, a movie almost designed like a pin-up magazine that was purely about what arouses me and what frightens me."
Like Reed's record, the result is much less accessible than Refn's previous films. "Only God Forgives," which co-stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Gosling's monstrous mother and Vithaya Pansringarm as a cop who metes out justice like an avenging angel, was booed by some critics when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the same place where Refn won the Best Director prize for "Drive" two years earlier. Among the most common complaints was the film was laughably pretentious, hollow and needlessly violent.
"A lot of people have seen the film and immediately dismissed it," says Thomas, whose flamboyantly evil character was designed as a cross between Lady Macbeth and Donatella Versace. "But then they wake up the next morning, and the movie is still in their heads. People watch movies on different levels, but the surface level of this one is not the most interesting. It's a film that needs a great deal of personal interpretation. It has this way of getting into your head, because it's so beautiful but also so frightening. If you can give into it and stop worrying about plot and stuff like that, you will have an amazing experience."
Thomas, who is usually cast in tony, upscale dramas ("The English Patient," "Gosford Park"), admits she initially thought her agent had made a mistake when he sent her the script and she read it. But she took the role after watching some of Refn's previous films, including "Bronson" and "Valhalla Rising." Her volcanic performance as a manipulative, demanding shrew with a voracious sense of entitlement and no redeeming qualities is unlike any she's given before.
"It was hard to play, because she is so outrageous and unpleasant and horrible," Thomas says of her character. "There is a scene in which Ryan meets me at a restaurant for dinner and brings a prostitute as his date. Nicolas said we needed something really horrible for me to say to her. He asked us 'What's the worst thing you've ever heard someone say to describe a woman?' Ryan suggested that word (a profane sexual slur). But I couldn't say it. I just couldn't. I kept flubbing the line, and we had to do multiple takes. You start feeling down when you have to be mean to people all the time. I wanted to have something nice to say!"
Unlike Thomas, Gosling didn't have much dialogue to wrangle: His character in "Only God Forgives" speaks even less than his taciturn driver in "Drive."
"Silent acting is the oldest form of acting in the world," Refn says. "But it's also the hardest to play, because we're used to using words to make the audience understand what's happening. Silence makes it much more about interpretation. Because there was so much attention paid to Gosling's stillness in 'Drive,' there's this perception that his performance in this movie is just the same thing.
"But 'Drive' was designed entirely around that character's silence. This one is very different. Ryan and I talked about the idea of a man who is chained to his mother and controlled by her. It's almost as if she's put a spell on him and has taken away his willpower. He's like the sleepwalker in 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.' It's an extreme and heightened reality.
"People tend to forget that Hamlet is a man who has no will of his own. He's constantly pushed around by other people who are taking advantage of him. But audiences are used to seeing male protagonists in movies be all about action and decisiveness. That's what defines the gender. Just because you reverse that doesn't mean you remove the urgency of the story. It just becomes quiet. And that can be very provocative, especially nowadays, because filmmaking has become so traditional and conventional. This movie requires you to engage with it in a different way than most other movies and interpret things for yourself. That's when art becomes interesting."
Although there isn't anything quite as graphic as the elevator scene in "Drive," "Only God Forgives" has moments of hair-raising violence, although a lot of the brutality happens outside the frame this time, making you think you've seen more than you did.
Still, there are sequences in which the camera doesn't look away, including a surreal torture scene inside an elegant karaoke bar that is as hard to watch as the ear slicing in "Reservoir Dogs."
"There's a great satisfaction in watching cinematic violence," Refn says. "It's designed in a way that feels like this great release. It arouses us. We fear it, but we also accept it as a savior. It can be very pleasurable or very horrifying. The violence in this film has a sexual aesthetic to it. The character of the policeman is like God walking the Earth, the Old Testament version of God. Even though we're taught not to enjoy the oldest form of justice, which is an eye for an eye, we're still rooted in it and take pleasure from it."
Monday, July 15, 2013
Race
Then he asked her to explain racism, which translated poorly
into his language as hatred of the difference in the hue of the fruit on a
single branch.
She struggled for the words to explain.
“Well, as you can see,” she said, “my husband Rufus has dark skin and my skin is pale.”
“Frecked,” he corrected.
“Well, okay, but see, Rufus and I are considered to be from different races, uhm, er, from different family trees, understand? And this causes a problem for some people down there.”
He snorted.
“You are pulling my leg, right? I’m no pinhead. You come from the same racing fruit tree, or whatever you call it. You are both mans. A little female man and a little man man.”
They both laughed at that but for different reasons; he at the truth in it, and she for the irony of it.
Even an oaf can understand that, she mused.
--Every Boy Should Have a Man, page 138
O Lord, bless us as a nation, and touch each of our hearts with love. Let us see the truth in each of our notions of race, and let us see the irony of it. Let us like the simple oafs see that we, on both sides of the issue, come from the same branch on the same tree.
She struggled for the words to explain.
“Well, as you can see,” she said, “my husband Rufus has dark skin and my skin is pale.”
“Frecked,” he corrected.
“Well, okay, but see, Rufus and I are considered to be from different races, uhm, er, from different family trees, understand? And this causes a problem for some people down there.”
He snorted.
“You are pulling my leg, right? I’m no pinhead. You come from the same racing fruit tree, or whatever you call it. You are both mans. A little female man and a little man man.”
They both laughed at that but for different reasons; he at the truth in it, and she for the irony of it.
Even an oaf can understand that, she mused.
--Every Boy Should Have a Man, page 138
O Lord, bless us as a nation, and touch each of our hearts with love. Let us see the truth in each of our notions of race, and let us see the irony of it. Let us like the simple oafs see that we, on both sides of the issue, come from the same branch on the same tree.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Giants
Q: I heard somewhere that the book is about giants, the tower of Babel, and religion. As a Christian, I come to your book cautiously wondering how I should read it or even if I should. Your previous novel was JESUS BOY which I cautiously read to my surprising pleasure. I am certain you are a good writer and knowledgeable about the bible. Will I understand it?
A: I am rereading your email to see if if I understand the question. Are you saying will you get it? Well, if you are a religious person of any Judeo-Christian faith you are most certainly familiar with the things the book refers to.
What follows is probably going to be used later on in high school and college essays about the book. So me just say--SPLOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
You mentioned giants. I've always had a fascination with mythological giants as well as giants in popular lore and art. Thus, I am offended and much disappointed that Marvel Comics in making the Avengers movie left out one of the originals. Hank Pym. Giant Man. And of course his wife Janet, the Wasp.
In Norse mythology, there were the Jotnar, among them Fafner who I think played an important role in Ragnarok, or twilight of the Gods, a doomsday that saw the deaths of several major gods of the Aesir, such as Thor, Odin, Loki, Baldr, Frigg, and so on. But I'd have to look that up to be sure, which I will do later and come back and edit this post. Oh, and there is the Basque giant Olentzero (who appears in the novel as Olentzlero with that "L" stuck in the middle).
You remember your Greek and Roman myths? You have the Titans that are giants as well as the Gods themselves, though I think the Titans are larger and ironically less powerful and less important as far as cosmology is concerned. Even so, the giant Prometheus gives fire to man and another Titan, Atlas, bears the earth on his shoulders. Then there is the one-eyed Cyclops who is described as a giant but may not be as large as the Titans.
In the bible, you find the Nephilim, who are fallen angels, perhaps, or simply angels, some of whom got their forbidden sexual groove on with the daughters of men (check out Deuteronomy 2:10-11, 2:21, and 3:11 Numbers 13:31-33), which produced offspring who like their pappies before them were enormous in size. From this groove came David's gigantic opponent Goliath (Check the Books of 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles).
I have fun with this in the novel's apocrypha with the giant of giants, the largest giant ever, named Gewargerulf and a regular-sized boy giant named Wiftet (sort of like the biblical David). Their episode is about courage, about faith in the great creator, and about . . . music.
By the way, you may recognize Gewargerulf's father Uulf. He is the book's Samson. The biblical strongman who was brought down for the love a woman.
After the apocrypha, the book ends with a character based on the tallest man that we know of, or rather whose height was documented by modern means, Robert Wadlow. The way his story is told, I hope it will remind you of what I said about the Nephilim.
So yeah, it's a book about giants. Sort of.
I don't think the book will offend you as a Christian.
It will, I hope, make you think about . . .
Heidelbergensis.
About what? Heidelber-what?
Don't ask me. If you want that "A" on your essay, go look it up.
Preston
A: I am rereading your email to see if if I understand the question. Are you saying will you get it? Well, if you are a religious person of any Judeo-Christian faith you are most certainly familiar with the things the book refers to.
What follows is probably going to be used later on in high school and college essays about the book. So me just say--SPLOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
You mentioned giants. I've always had a fascination with mythological giants as well as giants in popular lore and art. Thus, I am offended and much disappointed that Marvel Comics in making the Avengers movie left out one of the originals. Hank Pym. Giant Man. And of course his wife Janet, the Wasp.
In Norse mythology, there were the Jotnar, among them Fafner who I think played an important role in Ragnarok, or twilight of the Gods, a doomsday that saw the deaths of several major gods of the Aesir, such as Thor, Odin, Loki, Baldr, Frigg, and so on. But I'd have to look that up to be sure, which I will do later and come back and edit this post. Oh, and there is the Basque giant Olentzero (who appears in the novel as Olentzlero with that "L" stuck in the middle).
You remember your Greek and Roman myths? You have the Titans that are giants as well as the Gods themselves, though I think the Titans are larger and ironically less powerful and less important as far as cosmology is concerned. Even so, the giant Prometheus gives fire to man and another Titan, Atlas, bears the earth on his shoulders. Then there is the one-eyed Cyclops who is described as a giant but may not be as large as the Titans.
In the bible, you find the Nephilim, who are fallen angels, perhaps, or simply angels, some of whom got their forbidden sexual groove on with the daughters of men (check out Deuteronomy 2:10-11, 2:21, and 3:11 Numbers 13:31-33), which produced offspring who like their pappies before them were enormous in size. From this groove came David's gigantic opponent Goliath (Check the Books of 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles).
I have fun with this in the novel's apocrypha with the giant of giants, the largest giant ever, named Gewargerulf and a regular-sized boy giant named Wiftet (sort of like the biblical David). Their episode is about courage, about faith in the great creator, and about . . . music.
By the way, you may recognize Gewargerulf's father Uulf. He is the book's Samson. The biblical strongman who was brought down for the love a woman.
After the apocrypha, the book ends with a character based on the tallest man that we know of, or rather whose height was documented by modern means, Robert Wadlow. The way his story is told, I hope it will remind you of what I said about the Nephilim.
So yeah, it's a book about giants. Sort of.
I don't think the book will offend you as a Christian.
It will, I hope, make you think about . . .
Heidelbergensis.
About what? Heidelber-what?
Don't ask me. If you want that "A" on your essay, go look it up.
Preston
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Zombie Novel
It suddenly occurred to me why zombies, werewolves, and vampires are so popular these days. The first generation of goths are now in their thirties and forties. Not only are they reading books and watching scary (albeit kid friendly) movies, but they are also in the business of writing and producing such material. This accounts for zombie and assorted undead lore. Remember Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Blade? Harry Potter? Twilight? The hundred or so zombie novels and zombie tv shows and zombie movies? Scary stuff. Not always. No. There is an entire line of undead romances, literature about loving undead things--gaaak--but I'm sure this comes as no surprise to you unless you've been living under a rock--or maybe it comes as no surprise to you BECAUSE you have been living under a rock. Wink. Wink. I said all of this to say that I'm thinking of writing a zombie novel. But Preston, my god, you're a serious writer. A zombie book? No. Say it isn't so. Ah, but that's because you haven't read it yet. And when you do, keep in mind that I strive for Excellence in all of my work. So don't scoff, my friend. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Save the Trees--Cut Down on Paper
Are you a paper pusher?
The typical workplace is hooked on the stuff, with some shocking statistics.
The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year.
The United States alone, which has less than 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper.
Over 40% of wood pulp goes toward the production of paper.
Printing and writing paper equals about one-half of U.S. paper production.
The costs of using paper in the office can run 13 to 31 times the cost of purchasing the paper in the first place!
learn more at Reduce.org
The typical workplace is hooked on the stuff, with some shocking statistics.
The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year.
The United States alone, which has less than 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper.
Over 40% of wood pulp goes toward the production of paper.
Printing and writing paper equals about one-half of U.S. paper production.
The costs of using paper in the office can run 13 to 31 times the cost of purchasing the paper in the first place!
learn more at Reduce.org
Fur People by Vicki Hendricks
I just read a pretty good book a few days ago called "Fur People" by Vicki Hendricks. It's not out yet, but as soon as it does go and get a copy. Check back. Check back often. LOL. I'll keep you posted.
Davenport Library
I just saw this review from the Davenport Library.
Trying to put into words how I feel about Preston L. Allen’s Every Boy Should Have a Man isn’t easy. I keep trying to avoid calling the book weird — as not to turn away potential readers — while still imparting the distinct oddness of this novel. I want to explain how unnerving the novel can be at times, while making sure that I don’t forgot to tell you that the book was also subtly funny and wickedly smart. Part science-fiction, part allegory, part fairy tale, and part scripture, Allen has created a work of fiction that isn’t easy to pin down. Allen deftly employs irony, playing with the reader’s perception of humanity and challenging the way we interact with the earth.
Every Boy Should Have a Man takes place in a world in which Oafs keep “mans” as both pets and as potential food. In this land, a poor boy Oaf owns three mans throughout his life; something that is typically only a privilege of the wealthy. Spanning the lifetime of the boy Oaf (and a short time following), the book examines what it means to be civilized through a lens of a long list of divisive subjects including war, racism, global warming, and the ethics of domesticating animals for pets and livestock. To say that the novel is unique is an understatement, but there is evidence of a wide range of influences from Jack and the Beanstalk and Gulliver’s Travels to Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood.
Trying to put into words how I feel about Preston L. Allen’s Every Boy Should Have a Man isn’t easy. I keep trying to avoid calling the book weird — as not to turn away potential readers — while still imparting the distinct oddness of this novel. I want to explain how unnerving the novel can be at times, while making sure that I don’t forgot to tell you that the book was also subtly funny and wickedly smart. Part science-fiction, part allegory, part fairy tale, and part scripture, Allen has created a work of fiction that isn’t easy to pin down. Allen deftly employs irony, playing with the reader’s perception of humanity and challenging the way we interact with the earth.
Every Boy Should Have a Man takes place in a world in which Oafs keep “mans” as both pets and as potential food. In this land, a poor boy Oaf owns three mans throughout his life; something that is typically only a privilege of the wealthy. Spanning the lifetime of the boy Oaf (and a short time following), the book examines what it means to be civilized through a lens of a long list of divisive subjects including war, racism, global warming, and the ethics of domesticating animals for pets and livestock. To say that the novel is unique is an understatement, but there is evidence of a wide range of influences from Jack and the Beanstalk and Gulliver’s Travels to Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
We all need this right now as we reflect on the brave deeds of the 19.
"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."
--Aristotle Onassis
The 19
I found this on a site coincidentally called "The Blaze" (Theblaze.com). It's a pretty good article giving us a personal look at each of the brave 19. Read it. It'll bring you to tears because of the tragedy that these guys were taken away so suddenly, but then raise your spirits somewhat when you realize that as screwed up as our world seems sometimes there are still good people being born. God Bless.
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — Nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, based in Prescott, Ariz., were killed Sunday when a windblown wildfire overcame them north of Phoenix. It was the deadliest single day for U.S. firefighters since Sept. 11. Fourteen of the victims were in their 20s.
ANDREW ASHCRAFT: AN ATHLETIC, GO-GETTER
Prescott High School physical education teacher and coach Lou Beneitone taught many of the Hotshots, and remembered 29-year-old Andrew Ashcraft as a fitness-oriented student.
“He had some athletic ability in him and he was a go-getter, too. You could pretty much see, from young freshman all the way, he was going to be physically active.”
Beneitone said athletic prowess was a must for the Hotshots. “That’s what it takes. You gotta be very physically fit, and you gotta like it, gotta like the hard work.”
Ashcraft, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was honored to be a member of the Hotshot crew, and “he just had a really sweet spirit about him,” Elise Smith, a Prescott, Ariz., resident, told The Deseret News of Salt Lake City.
Ashcraft left behind a wife, Juliann, and four children, the newspaper reported.
—
ROBERT CALDWELL: THE SMART ONE
Friends characterized Robert Caldwell, 23, as the smart man in the bunch.
“He was really smart, he had a good sense of humor,” said Chase Madrid, worked as a Hotshot for two years, but sat this year out.
“He was one of the smart guys in the crew who could get the weather, figure out the mathematics. It was just natural for him,” Madrid said.
It was Caldwell’s intelligence and know-how that got him appointed as a squad boss.
His cousin, Grant McKee, was also a Hotshots member and also was killed on Sunday.
“Robert was a gentle giant – he was man of few words,” said his aunt, Laurie McKee.
He had just gotten married in November, and had a five year old step-son.
“Both of these boys were only interested in having a family life. Robert was newly married, and Grant was engaged. They just wanted the house and the dog,” she said.
Mary Hoffmann was grandmother to both boys.
“To have two grandson’s gone, it’s devastation,” she said.
—
TRAVIS CARTER: STRONG AND HUMBLE
At Captain Crossfit, a gym near the firehouse where the Hotshots were stationed, Travis Carter was known as the strongest one out of the crew – but also the most humble.
“No one could beat him,” trainer Janine Pereira said. “But the thing about him, was he would never brag about it. He would just kill everyone and then go and start helping someone else finish.”
Carter, 31, was famous for once holding a plank for 45 minutes, and he was notorious for making up brutal workouts.
The crew recently did a five mile run during wilderness training, then he made them go to Captain Crossfit in the afternoon for another really hard workout.
“The other guys who came in here always said that even though he was in charge, he was always the first one at the fire, the first one in action,” Pereira said.
—
DUSTIN DEFORD: DRY SENSE OF HUMOR
Dustin DeFord, 24, tried out for the Hotshot crew in January 2012, telling friends on Twitter that he had passed the physical fitness test and asking for prayers as he moved on to the interview stage of the process.
He moved to Arizona from Montana after he was hired, and he worked to improve his skills on the climbing wall at a gym near the firehouse.
“He listened very well. He was very respectful,” said Tony Burris, a trainer at Captain Crossfit. “He kind of had a dry sense of humor.”
Another trainer, Janine Pereira, echoed that sentiment.
“You would say something to him, and he would respond with a crack, which was funny because he was so shy,” she said.
Soon after he interviewed for the Hotshots, DeFord signed up for the Spartan Race, a rugged, eight-mile challenge through the mud and around various obstacles in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix.
“I am being amazing,” he wrote on Twitter, in reference to the race.
Several months later, in June 2012, he tweeted: “First Fire of the season.”
—
CHRIS MACKENZIE: `JUST LIKE HIS DAD’
An avid snowboarder, 30-year-old Chris MacKenzie grew up in California’s San Jacinto Valley, where he was a 2001 graduate of Hemet High School and a former member of the town’s fire department. He joined the U.S. Forest Service in 2004, then transferred two years ago to the Prescott Fire Department, longtime friend Dav Fulford-Brown told The Riverside Press-Enterprise.
MacKenzie, like at least one other member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, had followed his father into firefighting. Michael MacKenzie, a former Moreno Valley Fire Department captain, confirmed that he had been informed of his son’s death.
“I can’t talk about it,” he said.
Fulford-Brown, also a former firefighter, feared for the worst as soon as he heard the news of the Arizona firefighters. “I said, `Oh my God, that’s Chris’ crew.’ I started calling him and calling him and got no answer,” he told The Press-Enterprise. MacKenzie, he said, “lived life to the fullest … and was fighting fire just like his dad.”
“He was finishing his credentials to get promoted and loved the people. It’s an insane tragedy.
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ERIC MARSH: HOOKED ON FIREFIGHTING
Eric Marsh, 43, was an avid mountain biker who grew up in Ashe County, N.C., but became hooked on firefighting while studying biology at Arizona State University, said Leanna Racquer, the ex-wife of his cousin. Marsh lived with Racquer and her then-husband during the winters from 1992 through 1996 in North Carolina, but kept returning to Arizona during fire season.
After college, he kept working as a firefighter, eventually landing a full-time job and settling in northern Arizona. He even moved his parents to the state, she said. Marsh was superintendent of the Hotshot crew and the oldest of the 19 who died.
“He’s was great – he was the best at what he did,” Racquer said. “He is awesome and well-loved and they are hurting,” she said of his family.
Marsh was married but had no children, said his cousin, Scott Marsh of Pisgah Forest, N.C. His father, John Marsh, told the Jefferson Post newspaper in Jefferson, N.C., that his only child “was a great son.”
“He was compassionate and caring about his crew.”
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GRANT MCKEE: GIVING NATURE
Grant McKee, 21, loved to give things away.
“Even as a child, I’d ask him where things were, and he’d say, `Oh such and such liked it.’ And sometimes it really cost a lot! But he’d say, `Oh he liked it so much,’” said his grandmother, Mary Hoffmann.
“So on his birthday, I started to say, `I hope you’re going to keep this!’” she said.
McKee’s cousin, Robert Caldwell, also was a Hotshot and also was killed on Sunday.
“I had four grandchildren, but Grant was the sweetest most giving nature of any of my grandkids,” Hoffman said. “We used to think he was a little angel.”
McKee’s mother said Grant was training to be an emergency medical technician and only intended to work with the Hotshots for the summer.
During EMT training, he would ask for extra shifts at the emergency room. And because his superiors liked him, they would give them to him, Laurie McKee said.
“Grant was one of the most likable people you could ever meet,” she said. “Grant was friendly, he was outgoing. Everybody loved Grant.”
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SEAN MISNER: `TREMENDOUS HEART AND DESIRE’
Sean Misner, 26, leaves behind a wife who is seven months pregnant, said Mark Swanitz, principal of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in Santa Barbara County, where Misner graduated in 2005.
Misner played varsity football and also participated in the school’s sports medicine program where he wrapped sprained ankles and took care of sidelined athletes.
“He was a team player, a real helper,” Swanitz told The Associated Press on Monday.
In high school, Misner played several positions including wide receiver and defensive back. He was slim for a high school football player, but that didn’t stop him from tackling his opponents, recalled retired football coach Ken Gruendyke.
“He played with tremendous heart and desire,” Gruendyke said. “He wasn’t the biggest or fastest guy on the team but he played with great emotion and intensity.”
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SCOTT NORRIS: THE `IDEAL AMERICAN GENTELMAN’
Scott Norris, 28, was known around Prescott through his part-time job at Bucky O’Neill Guns.
“Here in Arizona the gun shops are a lot like barbershops. Sometimes you don’t go in there to buy anything at all, you just go to talk,” said resident William O’Hara. “I never heard a dirty word out of the guy. He was the kind of guy who if he dated your daughter, you’d be OK with it.
“He was just a model of a young, ideal American gentleman.”
O’Hara’s son Ryan, 19, said Norris’ life and tragic death had inspired him to live a more meaningful life.
“He was a loving guy. He loved life. And I’ve been guilty of not looking as happy as I should, and letting things get to me, and Scott wasn’t like that at all.”
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WADE PARKER: ANOTHER SECOND GENERATION FIREFIGHTER
At 22, Wade Parker had just joined the Hotshots team. His father works for the nearby Chino Valley Fire Department, said retired Prescott Fire Department Capt. Jeff Knotek, who had known Wade since he was “just a little guy.”
The younger Parker had been very excited about being part of the Hotshot crew, Knotek said.
“He was another guy who wanted to be a second generation firefighter,” Knotek said. “Big, athletic kid who loved it, aggressive, assertive and in great shape.”
“It’s just a shame to see this happen,” Knotek said.
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JOHN PERCIN JR.: STRONG, BRAVE, AMAZING
He loved baseball and had an unforgettable laugh. In his aunt’s eyes, John Percin Jr. was, simply, “an amazing young man.”
“He was probably the strongest and bravest young man I have ever met in my life,” Donna Percin Pederson said in an interview with The Associated Press from her home in Portland, Ore.
John Percin Sr., declined to comment Monday. “It’s not a good time right now.”
Percin, 24, was a multisport high school athlete who graduated in 2007 from West Linn High School, southeast of Portland.
Geoff McEvers grew up playing baseball with Percin and remembered Percin as a fun-loving guy with an unforgettable laugh, The Oregonian newspaper reported.
McEvers said he learned about the Percin’s death through friends.
“It’s already tragic when you hear about those who died,” McEvers told the newspaper, “but when you find out it’s someone you know personally, it’s tough.”
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ANTHONY ROSE: `BLOSSOMED’ AS FIREMAN
Anthony Rose, 23, was one of the youngest victims. He grew up in Wisconsin and previously worked as a firefighter in nearby Crown King before moving on to become a Hotshot.
Retired Crown King firefighter Greg Flores said Rose “just blossomed in the fire department. He did so well and helped so much in Crown King. We were all so very proud of him.”
Flores said the town was planning a fundraiser for Rose and hoped to also have a memorial to honor him.
“He was the kind of guy that his smile lit up the whole room and everyone would just rally around him,” he said. “He loved what he was doing, and that brings me some peace of heart.”
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JESSE STEED: `GREAT FOR MORALE’
Jesse Steed’s former colleagues remember him as a joker.
“He was a character. If you look at all the old photos of him, he was doing things to make people laugh,” said Cooper Carr, who worked with Steed in the Hotshots from 2001 to 2003.
“He was good at impressions, and he sang songs; he was just great for morale. He’d just talk in a funny voice and have us all in stiches,” Carr said. “And he was strong as an ox.”
Carr remembers that Steed once spent the better part of an hour positioning a water bottle just right for a photo so that it would look like Yosemite falls was cascading into it.
Steed was also remembered for his dedication to fighting wildfires.
“He did it for a long, long time. I think he started in 2001, when he got out of the Marines. A job like the Hotshots is hard, hard work, and you don’t stay in it if you don’t love it,” Carr said.
Steed, 36, was one of the older members of the crew. Renton, Wash., police officer Cassidy Steed said his brother “always put his life on the line for people who he knew he would never meet.”
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JOE THURSTON: Daring and Determined
Back home in Utah, Joe Thurston used to go to an area reservoir with friends and promptly show how fearless he could be.
“He was definitely one of the daredevil types,” longtime friend Scott Goodrich told the Salt Lake Tribune. “We went to Quail (Creek) Reservoir, and we’d be finding 40- to 50-foot cliffs that people would be scared to jump off. He would just show up and be front-flipping off of them.”
He brought this bold streak to the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
“He had all the qualities that a firefighter would need to possess,” E.J. Overson, another friend, told the Salt Lake City newspaper. “He was service-oriented, very caring and willing to do some things that many others would say, `I don’t want to get involved.’”
The 32-year-old Thurston, of Cedar City, was also determined, generous and hardworking, his friends said.
He went to Cedar High School and Southern Utah University, played in a band and rode skateboards.
“He was one of the best guys I ever met,” Goodrich said.
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TRAVIS TURBYFILL: `BIG, HUGE MARINE’
Known as “Turby” among crew members, Travis Turbyfill got a fulltime position with the Hotshots when another member’s girlfriend asked him to quit.
Turbyfill, 27, often worked with other Hotshots at Captain Crossfit, a warehouse filled with mats, obstacle courses, climbing walls and acrobatic rings near the firehouse. He would train in the morning and then return in the afternoon with his wife and kids.
Trainer Janine Pereira said she recently kidded Turbyfill for skipping workouts. His excuse was that he wanted to spend some quality time at Dairy Queen.
“He was telling me that it’s because it was Blizzard week, and he was just going to eat a Blizzard every night,” she said.
Tony Burris, another trainer, said he enjoyed watching Turby with his two daughters.
“Because he’s this big, huge Marine, Hotshot guy, and he has two little girls, reddish, blonde curly hair, and they just loved their dad,” he said.
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BILLY WARNEKE: `DOING WHAT HE LOVED’
Billy Warneke, 25, and his wife, Roxanne, were expecting their first child in December, his grandmother, Nancy Warneke, told The Press-Enterprise newspaper in Riverside, Calif. Warneke grew up in Hemet, Calif., along with his fellow Granite Mountain hotshot, Chris MacKenzie. He was a four-year Marine Corps veteran who served a tour in Iraq and had joined the hotshot crew in April, buying a property in Prescott, near where his sister lived, the newspaper reported.
Nancy Warneke said she called her sister after seeing the fire on the news.
“She said, `He’s gone. They’re all gone,’” Nancy Warneke told The Press-Enterprise. “Even though it’s a tragedy for the whole family, he was doing what he loved to do. He loved nature and was helping preserve nature.”
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CLAYTON WHITTED: HE’D `LIGHT IT UP’
Full of heart and determination, Clayton Whitted, 28, might not have been the biggest guy around, but he was among the hardest-working. His former Prescott High School coach, Lou Beneitone, said Whitted was a “wonderful kid” who always had a big smile on his face. Whitted played for the football team as an offensive and defensive lineman.
“He was a smart young man with a great personality, just a wonderful personality,” said Beneitone. “When he walked into a room, he could really light it up.”
Beneitone said Whitted loved being a firefighter and was well-respected among his crew. He says he ran into Whitted about two months ago and they shook hands and hugged, and talked about the upcoming fire season.
“I told him to be careful,” Beneitone said.
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KEVIN WOYJECK: FOLLOWING IN HIS FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS
For 21-year-old Kevin Woyjeck, the fire station was always a second home. His father, Capt. Joe Woyjeck, is a nearly 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Keith Mora, an inspector with that agency, said Kevin often accompanied his dad to the station and on ride-alongs, and always intended to follow in his footsteps.
“He wanted to become a firefighter like his dad and hopefully work hand-in-hand,” Mora said Monday outside of the fire station in Seal Beach, Calif., where the Woyjeck family lives.
Mora remembered the younger Woyjeck as a “joy to be around,” a man who always had a smile on his face. He had been trained as an EMT and worked as an Explorer, which is a mentorship training program to become a professional firefighter.
“He was a great kid. Unbelievable sense of humor, work ethic that was not parallel to many kids I’ve seen at that age. He wanted to work very hard.”
As he spoke, Mora stood before an American flag that had been lowered to half-staff. His own fire badge was covered with a black elastic band, a show of respect and mourning for those lost in the line of duty.
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GARRET ZUPPIGER: A RED BEARD, AND A SENSE OF HUMOR
Garret Zuppiger, 27, loved to be funny, said Tony Burris, a trainer at a gym where many of the Hotshots worked out.
Burris said the two bonded over their hyper-manly ginger facial hair.
“We both had a red beard and so we would always admire each other’s beards,” he said. “We also had a few conversations about beer.”
Zuppiger’s humor was evident on his blog where he wrote about his grandmother’s one-eyed Chihuahua, his “best hair day ever” and a hike with his mother on Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. There’s also photos of a tongue-in-cheek project to build a “ski-chair,” in which a living room recliner was placed atop two skis.
“Garret Zuppiger turns 25!” he wrote in a post several years ago. “Everyday is like a gift!!”
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Associated Press reporters Raquel Maria Dillon in Seal Beach, Calif., Sue Manning in Los Angeles; and Felicia Fonseca and Hannah Dreier in Prescott contributed to this story.
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — Nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, based in Prescott, Ariz., were killed Sunday when a windblown wildfire overcame them north of Phoenix. It was the deadliest single day for U.S. firefighters since Sept. 11. Fourteen of the victims were in their 20s.
ANDREW ASHCRAFT: AN ATHLETIC, GO-GETTER
Prescott High School physical education teacher and coach Lou Beneitone taught many of the Hotshots, and remembered 29-year-old Andrew Ashcraft as a fitness-oriented student.
“He had some athletic ability in him and he was a go-getter, too. You could pretty much see, from young freshman all the way, he was going to be physically active.”
Beneitone said athletic prowess was a must for the Hotshots. “That’s what it takes. You gotta be very physically fit, and you gotta like it, gotta like the hard work.”
Ashcraft, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was honored to be a member of the Hotshot crew, and “he just had a really sweet spirit about him,” Elise Smith, a Prescott, Ariz., resident, told The Deseret News of Salt Lake City.
Ashcraft left behind a wife, Juliann, and four children, the newspaper reported.
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ROBERT CALDWELL: THE SMART ONE
Friends characterized Robert Caldwell, 23, as the smart man in the bunch.
“He was really smart, he had a good sense of humor,” said Chase Madrid, worked as a Hotshot for two years, but sat this year out.
“He was one of the smart guys in the crew who could get the weather, figure out the mathematics. It was just natural for him,” Madrid said.
It was Caldwell’s intelligence and know-how that got him appointed as a squad boss.
His cousin, Grant McKee, was also a Hotshots member and also was killed on Sunday.
“Robert was a gentle giant – he was man of few words,” said his aunt, Laurie McKee.
He had just gotten married in November, and had a five year old step-son.
“Both of these boys were only interested in having a family life. Robert was newly married, and Grant was engaged. They just wanted the house and the dog,” she said.
Mary Hoffmann was grandmother to both boys.
“To have two grandson’s gone, it’s devastation,” she said.
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TRAVIS CARTER: STRONG AND HUMBLE
At Captain Crossfit, a gym near the firehouse where the Hotshots were stationed, Travis Carter was known as the strongest one out of the crew – but also the most humble.
“No one could beat him,” trainer Janine Pereira said. “But the thing about him, was he would never brag about it. He would just kill everyone and then go and start helping someone else finish.”
Carter, 31, was famous for once holding a plank for 45 minutes, and he was notorious for making up brutal workouts.
The crew recently did a five mile run during wilderness training, then he made them go to Captain Crossfit in the afternoon for another really hard workout.
“The other guys who came in here always said that even though he was in charge, he was always the first one at the fire, the first one in action,” Pereira said.
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DUSTIN DEFORD: DRY SENSE OF HUMOR
Dustin DeFord, 24, tried out for the Hotshot crew in January 2012, telling friends on Twitter that he had passed the physical fitness test and asking for prayers as he moved on to the interview stage of the process.
He moved to Arizona from Montana after he was hired, and he worked to improve his skills on the climbing wall at a gym near the firehouse.
“He listened very well. He was very respectful,” said Tony Burris, a trainer at Captain Crossfit. “He kind of had a dry sense of humor.”
Another trainer, Janine Pereira, echoed that sentiment.
“You would say something to him, and he would respond with a crack, which was funny because he was so shy,” she said.
Soon after he interviewed for the Hotshots, DeFord signed up for the Spartan Race, a rugged, eight-mile challenge through the mud and around various obstacles in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix.
“I am being amazing,” he wrote on Twitter, in reference to the race.
Several months later, in June 2012, he tweeted: “First Fire of the season.”
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CHRIS MACKENZIE: `JUST LIKE HIS DAD’
An avid snowboarder, 30-year-old Chris MacKenzie grew up in California’s San Jacinto Valley, where he was a 2001 graduate of Hemet High School and a former member of the town’s fire department. He joined the U.S. Forest Service in 2004, then transferred two years ago to the Prescott Fire Department, longtime friend Dav Fulford-Brown told The Riverside Press-Enterprise.
MacKenzie, like at least one other member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, had followed his father into firefighting. Michael MacKenzie, a former Moreno Valley Fire Department captain, confirmed that he had been informed of his son’s death.
“I can’t talk about it,” he said.
Fulford-Brown, also a former firefighter, feared for the worst as soon as he heard the news of the Arizona firefighters. “I said, `Oh my God, that’s Chris’ crew.’ I started calling him and calling him and got no answer,” he told The Press-Enterprise. MacKenzie, he said, “lived life to the fullest … and was fighting fire just like his dad.”
“He was finishing his credentials to get promoted and loved the people. It’s an insane tragedy.
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ERIC MARSH: HOOKED ON FIREFIGHTING
Eric Marsh, 43, was an avid mountain biker who grew up in Ashe County, N.C., but became hooked on firefighting while studying biology at Arizona State University, said Leanna Racquer, the ex-wife of his cousin. Marsh lived with Racquer and her then-husband during the winters from 1992 through 1996 in North Carolina, but kept returning to Arizona during fire season.
After college, he kept working as a firefighter, eventually landing a full-time job and settling in northern Arizona. He even moved his parents to the state, she said. Marsh was superintendent of the Hotshot crew and the oldest of the 19 who died.
“He’s was great – he was the best at what he did,” Racquer said. “He is awesome and well-loved and they are hurting,” she said of his family.
Marsh was married but had no children, said his cousin, Scott Marsh of Pisgah Forest, N.C. His father, John Marsh, told the Jefferson Post newspaper in Jefferson, N.C., that his only child “was a great son.”
“He was compassionate and caring about his crew.”
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GRANT MCKEE: GIVING NATURE
Grant McKee, 21, loved to give things away.
“Even as a child, I’d ask him where things were, and he’d say, `Oh such and such liked it.’ And sometimes it really cost a lot! But he’d say, `Oh he liked it so much,’” said his grandmother, Mary Hoffmann.
“So on his birthday, I started to say, `I hope you’re going to keep this!’” she said.
McKee’s cousin, Robert Caldwell, also was a Hotshot and also was killed on Sunday.
“I had four grandchildren, but Grant was the sweetest most giving nature of any of my grandkids,” Hoffman said. “We used to think he was a little angel.”
McKee’s mother said Grant was training to be an emergency medical technician and only intended to work with the Hotshots for the summer.
During EMT training, he would ask for extra shifts at the emergency room. And because his superiors liked him, they would give them to him, Laurie McKee said.
“Grant was one of the most likable people you could ever meet,” she said. “Grant was friendly, he was outgoing. Everybody loved Grant.”
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SEAN MISNER: `TREMENDOUS HEART AND DESIRE’
Sean Misner, 26, leaves behind a wife who is seven months pregnant, said Mark Swanitz, principal of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in Santa Barbara County, where Misner graduated in 2005.
Misner played varsity football and also participated in the school’s sports medicine program where he wrapped sprained ankles and took care of sidelined athletes.
“He was a team player, a real helper,” Swanitz told The Associated Press on Monday.
In high school, Misner played several positions including wide receiver and defensive back. He was slim for a high school football player, but that didn’t stop him from tackling his opponents, recalled retired football coach Ken Gruendyke.
“He played with tremendous heart and desire,” Gruendyke said. “He wasn’t the biggest or fastest guy on the team but he played with great emotion and intensity.”
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SCOTT NORRIS: THE `IDEAL AMERICAN GENTELMAN’
Scott Norris, 28, was known around Prescott through his part-time job at Bucky O’Neill Guns.
“Here in Arizona the gun shops are a lot like barbershops. Sometimes you don’t go in there to buy anything at all, you just go to talk,” said resident William O’Hara. “I never heard a dirty word out of the guy. He was the kind of guy who if he dated your daughter, you’d be OK with it.
“He was just a model of a young, ideal American gentleman.”
O’Hara’s son Ryan, 19, said Norris’ life and tragic death had inspired him to live a more meaningful life.
“He was a loving guy. He loved life. And I’ve been guilty of not looking as happy as I should, and letting things get to me, and Scott wasn’t like that at all.”
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WADE PARKER: ANOTHER SECOND GENERATION FIREFIGHTER
At 22, Wade Parker had just joined the Hotshots team. His father works for the nearby Chino Valley Fire Department, said retired Prescott Fire Department Capt. Jeff Knotek, who had known Wade since he was “just a little guy.”
The younger Parker had been very excited about being part of the Hotshot crew, Knotek said.
“He was another guy who wanted to be a second generation firefighter,” Knotek said. “Big, athletic kid who loved it, aggressive, assertive and in great shape.”
“It’s just a shame to see this happen,” Knotek said.
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JOHN PERCIN JR.: STRONG, BRAVE, AMAZING
He loved baseball and had an unforgettable laugh. In his aunt’s eyes, John Percin Jr. was, simply, “an amazing young man.”
“He was probably the strongest and bravest young man I have ever met in my life,” Donna Percin Pederson said in an interview with The Associated Press from her home in Portland, Ore.
John Percin Sr., declined to comment Monday. “It’s not a good time right now.”
Percin, 24, was a multisport high school athlete who graduated in 2007 from West Linn High School, southeast of Portland.
Geoff McEvers grew up playing baseball with Percin and remembered Percin as a fun-loving guy with an unforgettable laugh, The Oregonian newspaper reported.
McEvers said he learned about the Percin’s death through friends.
“It’s already tragic when you hear about those who died,” McEvers told the newspaper, “but when you find out it’s someone you know personally, it’s tough.”
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ANTHONY ROSE: `BLOSSOMED’ AS FIREMAN
Anthony Rose, 23, was one of the youngest victims. He grew up in Wisconsin and previously worked as a firefighter in nearby Crown King before moving on to become a Hotshot.
Retired Crown King firefighter Greg Flores said Rose “just blossomed in the fire department. He did so well and helped so much in Crown King. We were all so very proud of him.”
Flores said the town was planning a fundraiser for Rose and hoped to also have a memorial to honor him.
“He was the kind of guy that his smile lit up the whole room and everyone would just rally around him,” he said. “He loved what he was doing, and that brings me some peace of heart.”
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JESSE STEED: `GREAT FOR MORALE’
Jesse Steed’s former colleagues remember him as a joker.
“He was a character. If you look at all the old photos of him, he was doing things to make people laugh,” said Cooper Carr, who worked with Steed in the Hotshots from 2001 to 2003.
“He was good at impressions, and he sang songs; he was just great for morale. He’d just talk in a funny voice and have us all in stiches,” Carr said. “And he was strong as an ox.”
Carr remembers that Steed once spent the better part of an hour positioning a water bottle just right for a photo so that it would look like Yosemite falls was cascading into it.
Steed was also remembered for his dedication to fighting wildfires.
“He did it for a long, long time. I think he started in 2001, when he got out of the Marines. A job like the Hotshots is hard, hard work, and you don’t stay in it if you don’t love it,” Carr said.
Steed, 36, was one of the older members of the crew. Renton, Wash., police officer Cassidy Steed said his brother “always put his life on the line for people who he knew he would never meet.”
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JOE THURSTON: Daring and Determined
Back home in Utah, Joe Thurston used to go to an area reservoir with friends and promptly show how fearless he could be.
“He was definitely one of the daredevil types,” longtime friend Scott Goodrich told the Salt Lake Tribune. “We went to Quail (Creek) Reservoir, and we’d be finding 40- to 50-foot cliffs that people would be scared to jump off. He would just show up and be front-flipping off of them.”
He brought this bold streak to the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
“He had all the qualities that a firefighter would need to possess,” E.J. Overson, another friend, told the Salt Lake City newspaper. “He was service-oriented, very caring and willing to do some things that many others would say, `I don’t want to get involved.’”
The 32-year-old Thurston, of Cedar City, was also determined, generous and hardworking, his friends said.
He went to Cedar High School and Southern Utah University, played in a band and rode skateboards.
“He was one of the best guys I ever met,” Goodrich said.
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TRAVIS TURBYFILL: `BIG, HUGE MARINE’
Known as “Turby” among crew members, Travis Turbyfill got a fulltime position with the Hotshots when another member’s girlfriend asked him to quit.
Turbyfill, 27, often worked with other Hotshots at Captain Crossfit, a warehouse filled with mats, obstacle courses, climbing walls and acrobatic rings near the firehouse. He would train in the morning and then return in the afternoon with his wife and kids.
Trainer Janine Pereira said she recently kidded Turbyfill for skipping workouts. His excuse was that he wanted to spend some quality time at Dairy Queen.
“He was telling me that it’s because it was Blizzard week, and he was just going to eat a Blizzard every night,” she said.
Tony Burris, another trainer, said he enjoyed watching Turby with his two daughters.
“Because he’s this big, huge Marine, Hotshot guy, and he has two little girls, reddish, blonde curly hair, and they just loved their dad,” he said.
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BILLY WARNEKE: `DOING WHAT HE LOVED’
Billy Warneke, 25, and his wife, Roxanne, were expecting their first child in December, his grandmother, Nancy Warneke, told The Press-Enterprise newspaper in Riverside, Calif. Warneke grew up in Hemet, Calif., along with his fellow Granite Mountain hotshot, Chris MacKenzie. He was a four-year Marine Corps veteran who served a tour in Iraq and had joined the hotshot crew in April, buying a property in Prescott, near where his sister lived, the newspaper reported.
Nancy Warneke said she called her sister after seeing the fire on the news.
“She said, `He’s gone. They’re all gone,’” Nancy Warneke told The Press-Enterprise. “Even though it’s a tragedy for the whole family, he was doing what he loved to do. He loved nature and was helping preserve nature.”
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CLAYTON WHITTED: HE’D `LIGHT IT UP’
Full of heart and determination, Clayton Whitted, 28, might not have been the biggest guy around, but he was among the hardest-working. His former Prescott High School coach, Lou Beneitone, said Whitted was a “wonderful kid” who always had a big smile on his face. Whitted played for the football team as an offensive and defensive lineman.
“He was a smart young man with a great personality, just a wonderful personality,” said Beneitone. “When he walked into a room, he could really light it up.”
Beneitone said Whitted loved being a firefighter and was well-respected among his crew. He says he ran into Whitted about two months ago and they shook hands and hugged, and talked about the upcoming fire season.
“I told him to be careful,” Beneitone said.
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KEVIN WOYJECK: FOLLOWING IN HIS FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS
For 21-year-old Kevin Woyjeck, the fire station was always a second home. His father, Capt. Joe Woyjeck, is a nearly 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Keith Mora, an inspector with that agency, said Kevin often accompanied his dad to the station and on ride-alongs, and always intended to follow in his footsteps.
“He wanted to become a firefighter like his dad and hopefully work hand-in-hand,” Mora said Monday outside of the fire station in Seal Beach, Calif., where the Woyjeck family lives.
Mora remembered the younger Woyjeck as a “joy to be around,” a man who always had a smile on his face. He had been trained as an EMT and worked as an Explorer, which is a mentorship training program to become a professional firefighter.
“He was a great kid. Unbelievable sense of humor, work ethic that was not parallel to many kids I’ve seen at that age. He wanted to work very hard.”
As he spoke, Mora stood before an American flag that had been lowered to half-staff. His own fire badge was covered with a black elastic band, a show of respect and mourning for those lost in the line of duty.
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GARRET ZUPPIGER: A RED BEARD, AND A SENSE OF HUMOR
Garret Zuppiger, 27, loved to be funny, said Tony Burris, a trainer at a gym where many of the Hotshots worked out.
Burris said the two bonded over their hyper-manly ginger facial hair.
“We both had a red beard and so we would always admire each other’s beards,” he said. “We also had a few conversations about beer.”
Zuppiger’s humor was evident on his blog where he wrote about his grandmother’s one-eyed Chihuahua, his “best hair day ever” and a hike with his mother on Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. There’s also photos of a tongue-in-cheek project to build a “ski-chair,” in which a living room recliner was placed atop two skis.
“Garret Zuppiger turns 25!” he wrote in a post several years ago. “Everyday is like a gift!!”
—
Associated Press reporters Raquel Maria Dillon in Seal Beach, Calif., Sue Manning in Los Angeles; and Felicia Fonseca and Hannah Dreier in Prescott contributed to this story.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Psalms 116:7-9
7Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.
8For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
9I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
8For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
9I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Monday, July 1, 2013
What's the Book About?
Q: What's the book about?
A:
It's a book of adventure, mystery, and magic in a land far, far, far away,
and not too far at all.
A land of silver and a golden harp, of rock, sand, wood and water.
A land of trees.
A land of darkness, a land of color and light.
Of mothers and daughters and sons and mans and man,
and wars. A troubled land, yes,
but also a land of hope and beauty and goodness and
once upon a time,
in a land just beyond the sky.
And it all begins with a boy who one day,
brought home a man.
I hope that helped.
Thanks.
Preston
A:
It's a book of adventure, mystery, and magic in a land far, far, far away,
and not too far at all.
A land of silver and a golden harp, of rock, sand, wood and water.
A land of trees.
A land of darkness, a land of color and light.
Of mothers and daughters and sons and mans and man,
and wars. A troubled land, yes,
but also a land of hope and beauty and goodness and
once upon a time,
in a land just beyond the sky.
And it all begins with a boy who one day,
brought home a man.
I hope that helped.
Thanks.
Preston
Shakespeare
And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.
Alice Walker
Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you've got to make yourself.
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