tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626651798439325279.post3795314747863176882..comments2023-08-25T20:00:08.455-07:00Comments on MacArthur High School '65: SalutatorianLoren Colemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10705306131201565523noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626651798439325279.post-60207388432671192662010-05-28T14:27:28.736-07:002010-05-28T14:27:28.736-07:00For some reason I had the thought yesterday to try...For some reason I had the thought yesterday to try and find something on the internet about John C. I have searched for years. . and there was this post. . .that very same day. . that's remarkable. Anyway, I knew John not in High school, so thank you for letting me write here, but met him the year he graduated from Stanford, 1971. We had a relationship for a time and parted ways later that year and I never saw or heard from him again. I have wondered a lot, and am grateful to you for posting this, the only info I've found so far. If you have more references I'd be grateful. John was a poet (yes, phenomenal) and a scholar. . .student of literature, especially history, and a rather radical student of American society in the era we grew up in.Barefootlotusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15209063214346901617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626651798439325279.post-62202644821151529822010-05-27T14:36:56.987-07:002010-05-27T14:36:56.987-07:00Loren. Really good of you to put up this article ...Loren. Really good of you to put up this article on John "JR" Coutrakon. You really struck a chord with me on this one. A few reflections. I knew JR pretty well and did "hang out" with him some at school--often times at the library during honor study (not that I was much of an honor student). I think you're right about him being well-liked by just about everyone. He would also take time to help out others in small ways that I'm sure were appreciated by the person themselves but didn't really draw much notice. I saw him frustrated at times, but never truly angry at others and certainly not one to hold a grudge. I've often referred to him over the years as possibly the smartest kid I ever knew. He was very quick on the "uptake" but didn't call attention to it in any way--just taking his abilities as a matter of course. I never heard him talk about his grades or make any reference to his "standing" in that way--so my guess is that he didn't feel too badly about being a second-place Salutatorian--certainly not "second best". Not only was he a top-notch wrestler and involved in a lot of school activities but (I believe) he also worked a night job at UPS during much of his senior year. He was pretty broad-spectrum for a high school boy. JR was one of the very few of our classmates that I bumped into, briefly, about a year or so after our '65 graduation. In fact, it I saw him over at the Fairview Plaza as I was coming out of a store (Walgreen's?). I was with some others and we didn't talk long, but what struck me most was how much he'd become big physically. John was at least 2-3 inches taller than he'd been in his senior year and, no longer the rail thin wrestler, but had become a very sturdy looking presence. I never saw him again after that. Some others then told me that after college he went to California and was doing the "beach bum" thing for a while. Years later, I'd heard he'd been killed in the auto accident you describe. This was a bit eerie to me for a couple of reasons. First, John and I were both probably living in Oregon at the same time--I was there through the early 80's--but didn't know he was out there. Secondly, in the late seventies, I came very close to having a truck in the wrong lane hit me head-on along the same stretch of coastal highway on which John was killed. I understood that he and his law partner were on their way back home from a trial in Coos Bay, which they'd won. His passing was sad and he died way too young. My guess however is that he had a very good and deliberate life where he was living. The Brookings area is a very beautiful rural and isolated area--by both mountains and forests--on the southwest Oregon coast. A place you don't likely end up unless by intent.<br /><br />TimTim Henebryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06674119565307130235noreply@blogger.com