Nothing but emotional

Gary Wolgamott

SWISSHOME — A celebration of life will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 22, at Swisshome Evangelical Church for Gary Joe Wolgamott of Swisshome. He died March 15 in a homicide at age 55.

He was born Aug. 17, 1952, in Nampa, Idaho, to Joseph and Mary Ann Wolgamott. He married Lori Jensen in 1972 in Mapleton and they later divorced.

Wolgamott graduated from Mapleton High School in 1970. He worked as a Caterpillar operator for many years and worked as a river guide on the Siuslaw River and in Alaska.

Survivors include his mother; a son, Joshua of Walton; three siblings, Kenny Wolgamott of Crooked River Ranch, Dee Wolgamott of Elmira and Rick Wolgamott of Swisshome; and four grandchildren.

Above is the obituary for my friend Gary. I went to his Celebration of Life on Saturday and it was very emotional. The one good thing about it was that the facilitator said “This is not over, but today we are going to celebrate Gary’s life and nothing else”. The Church was packed to capacity, even flowing out the door. Gary was such a loved and admired person. It started with a eulogy by his school mate Brian M., then it ended with people standing up and telling stories about times they had spend with Gary. In almost every story it was about fishing with him as that was Gary’s true passion. The first slide shown in the slide show was a picture of Gary and Frank in the drift boat and the crying started for me at that point on. After the Celebration I left and went to Frank’s house to tell him about the slide and I got to see all my little kitties that I left behind at his house and then I hugged him……….damn.

Nothing but a Tragedy

Well, I said this was a nothing town....maybe I spoke to soon.

As usual we are sitting in the local bar on a Sunday....we hear sirens wailing and ambulances whiz by....nothing unusual for this place as the highway is treacherous going up river and we have dealt with many accidents and fatalities because of it. My friend Mark is sitting next to us and the phone rings and it is for him. He hangs up and says "last night at about 9:30 or 10:00 pm I heard this tremendously loud shot, so loud that it woke me up from my couch in a start...I sprang up and ran to the front door and looked out....but didn't see anything". Well, hearing gunshots around here is nothing unusual either as this place is loaded with Hunters, Loggers, and even trailers that work as both a Home and a Gun shop combined. Mark says, "Lori just called me and told me that the Cops are at Gary W's house and that he is dead".

Oh my God....

This is a tragedy....right now I am at the Bar the day later and, of course, this is the topic of the day. Gary W was a very respected Man in this Community. He was the top River Guide, he was a loving Grandfather, Loving Father, Loving Son to his Mother, he had Cerebral Ataxia and was doing sort of ok with it.....he kept his yard immaculate. He kept his boats immaculate. He loved his dogs.......

A tragedy that has turned this Nothing Town upside down.

As we have all been mulling over this horrible incident we have come to conclusion that right now we have a Killer running loose up river. This is not the first shooting that has happened up river...this is a lawless place....but for it to happen to a man so well respected.....it is a terrible shame. In the last 3 years we have had about 3 or 4 killings and none of them were ever solved or even prosecuted and I think it is because the Cops just write us all off as losers and "crack heads" and just think "oh well" just another loser we don't have to hunt down anymore. But Gary W.??? He was none of those and I am pretty sure that the person who friggin gunned him down is probably of the the ones who "got away" with it before. We have young men up this river who are completely insane....men who didn't finish school and just stayed here because their parents just let them sit around and drink and smoke dope and hang out with them.

This has got to stop............Rest well Gary.....We will find out who did this to you.

Sorry...out of luck

I am going to type this blog in red because that is what I am seeing right now

The ONLY restaurant and bar in town....Frank's Place. The ONLY place to get all the gossip and interesting tid bits of information from this Nothing Town, the ONLY place to get a beer or cocktail and maybe a hamburger and, if you're lucky and enough people are in the bar and you are tipping they might stay open until nine pm. Well, the owners of this wonderful place have decided to open a new place down the coast in Bandon, Oregon and the owner, named Frank (ha ha....really!) who usually cooks after two pm is down there working on his new dive. So, unbelievable as it is.....no food here in this Nothing Town.....nada....shit out of luck.

Better not get drunk......

Where am I???

My little town is nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Coastal Range in Oregon State.

A nothing town.

The population consists of Retirees, Loggers, Laid off Loggers, SSI Recipients (mental cases, back problems etc.), the "Born and Bred" (ya know the ones....right out of the movie "Deliverance"), and the local Back Street Drifter whom we call "Cricket". He's the guy we go to to find out who stole our car, who ripped off all the tools in the tool shed, who stole the neighbors chickens and any other bit of information. Cricket will take all your bottles and cans for refunds for you.....no need for recyclers here. The Confederate Flag flies freely....so, Mr. Obama, warning, if you choose to come for a campaign stop here I would suggest that you have an army of Secret Services Agents and a heavily armored vehicle at your disposal. But all of this aside.....I love it here.

I will tell you things about this place that are wonderful, disturbing, funny, sad, and balancing on the absurd.......

Stay tuned.