Then -
Now -
This is on the fifth 'pitch' of Independence Monument's 'Otto' route, April, 2002.
I was plenty respectful of Mr Otto's position when he first ascended this final scary
segment in 1911, all by himself. Luckily I had my partner encouraging me to stick
with it at the time, unlike Otto, who was basically free-soloing this
entire five-hundred-
foot desert tower, all alone. As you can see, I really had
my panties in a bunch here,
but imagine how Otto must have felt...
After Central;
I majored in Classical Guitar Performance for two years at Belmont College in Nashville,
dropping out and returning to Louisville for nine months to play music with friends. Moved
to Texas in 1981, joined a No Wave band, "The Noodles," (changed our name to "The
Shapes" in 1984) until January of 1988. AT the same time I was actually living on money
earned as a clinical monitoring tech (a what?!) at the Methodist Hospital in Houston. Left
it all behind in 1988, moved to Casper, Wyoming to be a climber for good. Starved for
about two years, but climbed alot. Married Michel Vance in 1989. Wound up earning
an AAA in Music and an AAS in Nursing at Casper College by May of '92. Michel died
in 1991. I moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1992, and have been working here ever since
as an ICU nurse at United Medical Center West. Married Alissa Freeman in December of
'93 after returning from a nice climbing trip to Ecuador (rites of passage all). Continued
climbing and playing the guitar throughout, even with my three stepdaughters (from Alissa's
previous marriage) and two sons.
Now I'm;
Having found that there ain't no balance between what I want to do and what I need to do
for my kids and wife, I have alot fewer irons in the fire for my own self, although they are
definitely still in that smouldering pile of ashes somewhere. We live east of town in one of
prettiest places on Earth, affectionately known as "Poverty Flats." And this year I'm gonna
rack up more gopher kills in my garden than last year (Ka-BOOM).
Memorable CHS Moments;
Kurt Bendl, Dennis Branson, Mike Block... ahhh, the things we shoulda gone ahead and
done! Dark of the Moon; Senior Talent Show (or similar); All of those silly, philosophical
notions I adopted from David Bowie's Hunky Dory album for my senior comments, quotes
and attitudes. Greg Foresman, you are still one of my begrudged heroes (sheer jealousy).
Come back little Becca, back into the fold. Oops, almost forgot: getting mugged in '77.
And the lovely smell emanating from the J.W. Dant distillery every day after lunchtime.
Ahhh. I can still smell the Marlboros in the courtyard...
Email -
gnorga@millect.com