Sunday, August 21, 2005

A Long, Long Time Ago

08/21/2005

Kurt Harms’ grandfather, Art Jentoft, and my grandfather, Phil Jentoft, were brothers.  Though we saw Uncle Art and Aunt Jenny frequently enough, Kurt, Greg and Lucy we’d met maybe half a dozen times most over they years.

Despite the fact that we seldom saw the Harms, we got frequent updates via our grandmother, Georgie Jentoft, and of course, the annual Jentoft Christmas newsletter.

Oddly enough, when I saw Kurt’s photograph in the Seattle newpaper and learned of his tragic accident, I had to read the text to be sure the person matched the name.  The photograph was of a man, not the young boy and teenager I had last seen.  In fact, the Navy photograph of Kurt at the periscope is the Kurt I immediately recognized.

The distance created by geography and experience are no match for the bond of family and common history.  Our family and this world have lost a bona fide appreciative participant in the journey of life.  Best wishes in this next adventure, Kurt.

Jay Jentoft

Thursday, August 18, 2005

A Memory of Kurt

08/18/2005

We met Kurt Harms, a member of our extended family, only once. In November of 2002, Greg and Dawn invited us to share an evening in their home with Arthur and Joan Jentoft who were visiting them from the East Coast. It was a memorable evening. We enjoyed seeing Joan and Arthur again after so many years. We met Greg and his lovely family for the first time - and we met Kurt. We were captivated by Kurt’s friendly and earnest manner. He seemed to be totally engaged with his life and was
obviously enjoying all of it. He told us about his professional activities as well as associated adventures. His ascent of Mt. Fuji, alone at night, and then repeated again the next morning with a host of
other climbers, demonstrated his confidence and initiative. He had recently returned from Abu Dhabi and brought small gifts from that exotic place. We were eager to hear more about his adventures, but there was not time for it that evening. Before we parted company Kurt told us that he occasionally traveled between Sunnyvale and the Seattle area and would like to stop by on his way sometime to visit us at our home. We happily invited him to do so, but, with his busy life that so
often took him to far corners of the world, the opportunity never came.

We were dismayed and saddened to learn of Kurt’s untimely death and deeply regret the loss of this charismatic young man.

by:  Ralph and Betty Jentoft
(Ralph is a cousin to Kurt’s Uncle Art)

Saturday, August 06, 2005

My Hero

08/06/2005

My hero is my Uncle Kurt. He is my hero for lots of reasons. He is hilarious, smart and strong. I’m going to tell you why he is all of those things.

First, he is hilarious. He was hilarious because he has the funniest jokes. He also laughed at any joke I told him too or said: “That’s classic!” to something he really liked. He knew a lot of funny stories too. Like, well, it would take too long if I told you because he loved to talk.

Next, he was very smart and I respected that. He was great at math and arithmetic. And, he could spell humongous words like ‘googleplex’! He traveled to different countries on business because his company knew he was smart. He learned different customs and words from the countries he travelled to.

Lastly, he was so strong. He was a great skier too. Once we were sking together with Spencer and Preston and he helped me a lot! I had trouble getting down the hill so he almost carried me down every time. Also, he was a terrific swimmer because he was so strong and fast.

At his funeral we were told by his company that he saved many people fighting for our country so he really was a hero!  He worked on a special program that told you where the bad guys were.

So, now you know why Uncle Kurt was my hero. Go find a hero or go become one yourself like Uncle Kurt.

by: Desi McIntyre (age 10)
(good friend of the Nesse family)