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Edward Michael (Red) (Rusty) Kacalek, of Ritzville, WA, died June 27 2010. Red was born in Spokane, WA December 12 1945. He graduated from Lewis & Clark in 1964 and attended Eastern State for two years. He was drafted in 1967, served proudly in Vietnam, and earned several medals. He went to work for Boeing only long enough to buy a new car, and had a 38 year career. He lived in Everett and Arlington, WA. Red is survived by his wife, Kitty; and son, Bill at the home. He is also survived by son, Michael Starmer (Soprina); and granddaughter, Stefanie, all of Arlington. Services were held July 2, 2010 at Fairmount Memorial Park.
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Susan Jane Tester (Maki)
Hi, Although we were in LC together, I remember Rusty mostly from Irving grade school. He was a nice guy and I always knew that he and Sammy Sugiyama were smarter than the rest of us. It seems like they created some pretty impressive science experiments. My condolences. Susan Tester Maki
Ronald Hotrum
I'm with Susan Tester--it was at Irving that I remember Rusty's smile. LC was too big to stay acquainted.
Ron Hotrum,
Lebanon, OR
Jim Hoppe (Class Of '65)
Rusty Kacalek was a friend of mine on the track and cross country teams. Rusty was one good, fast runner. He was very competitive and could run a fast 2 mile cross country race, a tough, fast 880 and a very respectable 440.
We went to the State Track meet in 1964 in the Mile Relay. We had broken some records on the way to the big meet at WSU but came in 2nd place that year.
One of my favorite memories of Rusty was in a big meet with Rogers at Hart Field in 1964. Coach Walters, from Rogers, had moved Gerry Lindgren into the 880 to run against Rusty. If you remember Gerry, he went to the 64 Olympics in Tokyo in the 10K meters and was a world class runner in high school. Rusty had his work cut out for him that day!
Rusty led the 2 lap race until the last turn when Gerry made his move. Rusty held him off and Gerry cut in too soon and fouled Rusty by stepping on his foot with his sharp track spikes. Rusty stumbled and Gerry went on to win the race without any of the course officials disqualifying Gerry. We were all complaining about the foul and Rusty showed the torn and bloody shoe with no results. Rusty was mostly concerned about his Adidas Tokyo 9.9's that were ruined!
I later talked to Gerry Lindgren when he was a guest speaker at the Honolulu Marathon years later. He cringed when I brought up the story and apologized for what had happened but it was too late for Rusty.
We had some good times together and I wish that I could have seen him one more time to relive old events before his death.
Jim Hoppe (LC Class of 1965)