Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Continuing Thanks to Kurt's Friends

04/20/2005

It is difficult to express our gratitude, and how much it means to me and my family, for the memories and pictures of Kurt that you all share.  There are so many instances that we did not know of, or for which we only had a vague description, that we now can experience and enjoy. It helps us feel closer to Kurt.  I also look forward to my sons reaching the age where they can read the stories and view the pictures, and really appreciate how unique was their Uncle Kurt.

I am on holiday this week, and finally feel prepared to begin adding my own memories over the next few days.  I am amazed at how many memories I have, though, that are virtually impossible to share.  These are instances as we were growing up that he and I could revive with only a word or a gesture – those crazy little things that have no significance other than it was shared with someone with whom you are very close.  These are the type of exchange that would sound insignificant if described, but really are small but critical attachments.

Thanks again all, for all you remember.

Warm Regards,
Greg Harms

Monday, April 18, 2005

Felt a Close Connection

04/18/2005

While uploading my pictures and tribute to Kurt on this web site, I was listening to a CD on my computer. I was not very familiar with the songs near the end of this particular CD.  But as one particular song came to a close, I thought to myself, this is a great song that comforts me and is somehow providing me with some solace.  I looked at the name of the track and to my surprise, it was entitled, “New Star in the Sky”, by Air on the “Moon Safari” CD.  The singing is kind of purposely muddled, so I had to look up the lyrics in the liner notes.  Here they are:

My baby blue is a new star
In the sky
The world the world the world the world
Just for you for nobody else

In Loving Memory of Kurt Harms

04/18/2005

Written by Alan Lopez
March 27, 2005

I knew Kurt for 20 years, almost half my life, and I considered him one of my closest and dearest of friends.

Kurt was like a kid, lost in endless wonderment.  He was always pondering the imponderables. For example, Kurt was fascinated by number sequences in dates and times.  He would get excited when the clock read a progressive sequence, such as 01/02/1986 11:22:33 or 12:34:56 and would stare at the clock in the Operations Control Center near the time it would strike to be sure to see it.  He was fascinated by science and how all things worked.

All of my friends and family who met Kurt, remember him, and often asked for him.  He was a guy who would never hurt a fly.  He was the master of puns.  He was the life of any party.  He was the real-life “Cosmo Kramer” in our lives.  Kurt was a guy that just about anyone could instantly relate to on some level, and could provoke laughter and pure joy. This was Kurt’s gift to the world.

Kurt kept us entertained with his stories.  I’ve heard virtually all his stories and never got tired of any of them.  His were stories that would make me laugh every time I heard them.  When Kurt met some of my other friends, I would ask him to repeat his stories, and I would enjoy them as much as my friends did hearing them for the first time.

Here are a few of the best stories and recollections that have not been told by the others.  Only Kurt could tell them properly and make them so entertaining.  His eyes and facial expressions and delivery made them so funny.  Whenever I repeated them, they just weren’t nearly as funny.  I know I won’t do them justice, but you may remember them.

One day sometime after Thanksgiving, Kurt felt like eating a sandwich made with leftover turkey.  He had received turkey from two sources at two different times.  He forgot that he had the old turkey and pulled it out thinking it was the newer batch.  He made a turkey sandwich and started eating it.  While eating he noticed a bad smell and could not think of where it was coming from.  He finished half of his turkey sandwich before he realized that the bad smell was coming from his half-eaten turkey sandwich.  He then began deciding whether he should finish the sandwich.  He finally decided to eat the remainder of his sandwich.  He figured that he had eaten half of it and hadn’t died, so it was probably safe to finish it.

To kid around with Kurt and invoke a guaranteed reaction from him, one that always made him blush a beet red color, I would whisper things to him when a good-looking woman was nearby.  I would tell him something like, “Hey Kurt, this girl really likes you, she thinks you’re hot” or “Hey Kurt, if you want to go out with this girl, I’ll go ask her for you”.  No matter how lightly I was whispering, Kurt was sure the girl could hear me.  He would get so incredibly embarrassed.  He would turn around and plead with me to be quiet.

Kurt had a voracious appetite.  At the Naval Academy, they had set times to eat.  But he would often get hungry after dinner and would hang out with the cooks and eat after-dinner snacks in the kitchen.  One night he felt hungry for a snack and went to the kitchen.  Everyone had gone to bed and all the food was locked up.  He noticed an uneaten piece of pie sitting in a trash can on the top.  Kurt said the pie was hardly touched, so he figured it was OK to eat it.  Just as he was beginning to eat the piece of pie, an officer came around the corner and instantly realized what Kurt was doing.  He looked at Kurt, gave him a weird look (mimicked by Kurt) and said, “Gross me out!” Kurt had pulled a “Costanza”.

Kurt felt claustrophobic when he was assigned to a submarine while in the Naval Academy.  He couldn’t find a good place to be alone to exercise.  He finally found a quiet place and was very happy that he found a little secret hideaway.  He went there to exercise and found the temperature very hot there, but he didn’t think about it too much.  After a few days of using this secret place, he looked up and noticed a warning that nuclear radiation was present in that area and that this area should be avoided.

Kurt always wondered if he talked in his sleep.  He wondered what kind of things he might have muttered in his sleep.  He thought that maybe they were great ideas that would solve some of mankind’s problems.  He finally decided to get a voice-activated tape recorder.  He was so excited to set it up that night, he could hardly sleep.  He finally fell asleep.  In the morning he woke up, remembered the tape recorder and looked at the tape usage.  Some tape had been used to make recordings.  He rewound it and heard the buzzing of the audio that had been recorded.  This made him very excited.  He played the tape and heard the following.  The tape recorder made a swooshing sound every time it was voice activated.  Here is how Kurt described the recording.  He would mimic all the sounds that he heard.  He said he heard something like a “swoosh, ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff, swoosh” (dog barking), and, “swoosh, rrrrr, rrrrrr, rrrrrrrr, swoosh” (motorcycle going by).  The whole tape was filled with outside ambient noise and he was so disappointed that none of it was of him talking in his sleep.

Kurt’s roommates were complaining of tiny bugs flying around the house.  They couldn’t figure out where they were coming from.  After several weeks, one of Kurt’s roommates found the source.  Behind the refrigerator, there was something that was rotted on the floor.  Kurt saw it and vaguely remembered that bought some potatoes and hid them behind the refrigerator so that his roommates wouldn’t eat them.  He inspected the rotting pile and found that the potatoes had shriveled up, grew into plants and had died and rotted into a black, wet, rotting mass.  When the bag of rot was moved, a “cloud” of flying bugs would be released into the air.  It was difficult to clean it up, but his roommates demanded that he do it.

Kurt’s boss at his first job at Hughes was sick one day.  Kurt was asked to fill in for him by doing a job interview.  He found out that the job applicant had a PHD.  He wanted to impress the applicant, so he thought up what he thought were interesting questions.  The interview started out all right.  Then Kurt started asking his “interesting” questions.  He said the interviewee got more and more agitated as the interview continued.  He started to squirm and sweat, and toward the end of the interview, he was shaking.  Kurt later realized that the interviewee felt that he was being grilled by Kurt’s questions.  But Kurt couldn’t understand why someone with a PHD would be intimated by him.  Kurt just wanted to impress the guy.

Here is an email that Kurt wrote in 1999.  After helping him move one day, I saw all the things he held onto and told him that he was unable to throw anything away.  For instance, he still had a jar of “sea monkeys”, those crystals that grow in water, since childhood.  I told him that he was unable to get rid of his vintage Ford Fairlane in favor of a new car.  This is what he wrote:

Hi Alan,

Yaah, I guess you’re right.  I’ve ADOPTED my cars.

When I’m with my sister I am shocked at how she spoils her kids.  I’ve even let her know a few times.

However, I’m beginning to think I’d do the same damn thing.

I’ve dumped all kinds of money on both of my cars.

Also, I bought a new fish !  It doesn’t require an aquarium.  It prefers to live in a little jar. Well, I bought some special food for it and the directions said to feed it only three tiny pellets a day. I thought to myself, this isn’t hard; I’ll just follow the directions.
It’s better for the fish anyway.

Well, guess what.  I’m now feeding it 15 pellets a day !

I can’t bear it when it looks at me and wants food.

Anyway, you’re right.

Kurt

After a while, the fish were bloated and so fat that they could barely swim.  He had to buy an aquarium for them because they outgrew their jar.  I know because I used to feed his fish when he was away on business trips.

Kurt, Nancy (my wife) and I went to the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles to see a special screening of El Cid, starring Charleton Heston.  At the end of the movie, Charleton Heston walked onto the stage and took a bow.  After the movie, Kurt went to the restroom.  Nancy and I waited outside.  Kurt came out of the theater very excited and began to tell me that while standing at the urinal, Charleton Heston walked up and took the urinal next to his.  Kurt was so excited to see him he tried to shake his hand.  Charleton asked Kurt to wait until he was finished.  After Chartleton washed up, Charleton Heston gave Kurt a signed copy of a 8” x 10” photo of Charleton Heston from the movie El Cid.

Kurt was so afraid of disappointing people.  After he moved to Denver, he never told Nancy and I of his visits to Los Angeles in advance.  That way, if he got held up for some reason, we would not be disappointed at his being late.  He would suddenly appear at our doorstep, out of the blue, and ask if we could get together.  He wouldn’t listen when I told him we wouldn’t hold it against him if he were late.

It took me a while to be able to write all this down.  Up to now it has been too painful.  It was my great privilege and pleasure to know Kurt.  Kurt lived life to the fullest.  We shared so many good times, traveling (some business related), camping, hiking, skiing, surfing (body boarding), running marathons and 10Ks, going to Los Angeles Raider football games, playing video games, and going to movies.  His life touched so many people, including mine.  His friendship was unique and can never be replaced.  I loved Kurt like a brother.  There is a hole in my heart that I hope someday will heal.

Kurt gave Nancy and I one of his favorite plants when he moved to Denver.  It has thrived over the years in our bedroom facing the southern sky.  It now provides a special memory of him for us.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

A Kindred Spirit

04/03/2005

I’ve known and worked with Kurt since around 1997.  My life has been richer through friendship with him.  I’ve always been sort of socially awkward, and Kurt was one of the few people I felt genuinely at ease with.  It seemed his mind was always working on something and he was willing to share his thoughts and experiences with unbridled enthusiasm and humor.  I felt a special kinship with Kurt in that we thought some of the same silly things were funny and had similar interests and personality traits.  I never tired of hearing his stories and puns no matter how many times he told them.  He was my movie, lunch, and conversation comrade.

The last day I saw Kurt was on the afternoon of Sunday March 13 at the Raytheon fitness center.  He said he wanted to get in a workout before his long flight to Australia that evening.  We talked about all sorts of things over 90 minutes or so.  It started with Kurt performing a vigorous demonstration on the gym’s new punching bag as two young ladies looked on.  Later he was listening to educational recordings on his mp3 player while completing seemingly never ending curl reps.  I’m glad I shook hands with Kurt and wished him a good trip as I left.  I will always remember and be inspired by his wonderful passion for life.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Kurt and Stefans great lifelong adventure!

04/01/2005

Kurt and I go back some 40 years. We have always been lifelong friends. We remained close throughout our school years.  Kurt and I enjoyed doing all sorts of outdoor activities together like skiing, hiking, camping, etc. 

After High School while Kurt was at the U.W. I bought a new car and we travelled around the western United States together.  Highlights were Yellowstone in Montana and Southern Utahs Redrock Country and Aspen Groves.  Other fond memories are a trip I took with Kurt, Lucy, and Greg to Seaside Oregon during a Pacific Storm. We were both about 13 with no parents.  We slept in a tent and got totatlly soaked!  The next night we went to a cheap motel and dryed off.  Another one was enjoying rootbeer floats at triple XXX after playing tennis with Kurts dad.  And then theres the weeklong ski trip to Mt Baker!  It snowed so much me and Kurt had to spend half a day digging his car out,it was completly buried! 

When Kurt went off to the Navel Academy and persued his carreer with Hughes and Raytheon he allways kept in touch by sending photos and letters of all his travels from around the world!  Of course I was jealous,I love travel to! 
I feel very fortunate to have been able to visit Kurt this last October in Denver. It was very special! The weather was perfect and we traveled all over Colorado Rockies.  He was a great host considering I had a broken foot.  Kurt enjoyed his favorite, mashed potatos at every stop!  And then there is the beautifull golden fall colors of the Aspen trees just like 25 years before on our last trip together! 

With Kurt, what you see is what you get, no need to make any exaggerated stories! He is the real the thing, he loved everyone around him and he loved life!  Kurts spirit will be with me forever! 

- Stefan Kirchhauser

Homesick

04/01/2005

I’ve been trying to find words to say, and maybe they’ll come in
time but for now this song has really hit home for my family.

MercyMe - Homesick
From the album Undone

You’re in a better place, I’ve heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I’ve rejoiced for you
But the reason why I’m broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now

Help me Lord cause I don’t understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I’ll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I’m still here so far away from home

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now

In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I’ll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again

And I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow

I’ve never been more homesick than now

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Kurt In December 2004 - Steve Erickson

03/31/2005

I met Kurt Harms in Alice Springs during a TDY assignment at the Pine Gap facility in December of 2004. I had talked to him on the phone a few times before this, but it was during the 3 weeks in Australia that I had the pleasure to get to know Kurt. Dave Genetti, Kurt, and I got to spend a lot of time together as we were all working days in a little 8’x10’ “closet” full of computers and sleeping within about 120 paces of the work entrance. Dave and I liked to try to surprise Kurt with a good joke in order to provoke the loud percussive explosion of a laugh ("HAH!") that was uniquely Kurt’s. We ate about a third of our dinners in the town of Alice Springs, and since Kurt knew the area, he served as tour guide. Barrumundi, a local variety of fish, was his favorite meal, and he showed us several restaurants that served it well. Oscar’s was perhaps our favorite dinner stop as the barrumundi was always excellent, and the service was very good. The waitresses got to recognizing us when we came in and so I took a picture of them posing with Kurt and Jared Gottlieb (another TDY’er).

During dinner, Kurt would like to expound on financial theories, but when pressed, he would tell of the ‘adventures’ he had experienced. He told about the experience in Indonesia where he and another Raytheon employee had to be evacuated from the country during a revolution. (Our security officer tells us this event is largely why we have to all carry the “Employee Locator” cards when we travel, with phone numbers to call when we leave the country or return.) He told us about being kidnapped in Mexico right outside his hotel. Remarkably, even though they asked him for his money, he did not tell them about the several hundred dollars hidden in his shoe. They released him safely, but a friend told him later that it was surprising they didn’t check his shoe since that is such a common hiding place for money. In another story, he was a passenger in a small plane with a friend as the pilot. Conditions were marginal with a low cloud ceiling, they were flying in a valley between mountains, and the pilot did not have an instrument rating. As the clouds dropped lower they dropped altitude until they could see trees. Then they had to double back, making a blind turn among the mountains. A few days later, they had almost the same experience with a low cloud ceiling, but this time over water. Another couple of close calls.

I have a couple of uploaded pictures (in Kurt’s travels) of Kurt, Dave, and myself in front of the Alice Springs sign and at a visit to the Alice Springs Reptile Museum. The shot that I like best is where he is holding the snake and looking at the camera. He has a wild look in his eye that was characteristic of Kurt when he was enjoying life. I’ll miss that look. And the laugh.

Steve Erickson

Friday, March 25, 2005

Assorted Comments and Pictures from Family and Friends

03/25/2005

We found some pictures of Kurt with Mehn on his laptop, and have posted one in the photo gallery.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Kurt Harms

03/24/2005

He could carry on a conversation with anyone!  And Kurt could shock a listener with the depth and breadth of his casual knowledge.  Then in the next second he would shock you with his innocence.

He was truly one of the nicest persons you would ever meet, and he will be missed sorely. He died in a tragic car accident while working in Australia on March 16, 2005.

Friends and Family are welcome to upload thoughts, pictures, and memories into this site.