Curtis Weston

Curtis (Curt) Gene Weston was born Aug. 17, 1936, in Orofino, to Robert Frank and Sadie Eleanor Weston. The family soon moved to Lewiston when father Robert was hired as a riveter on the Idaho-Washington Interstate Bridge construction project in 1939. The family stayed in Lewiston to raise their family. As a child, Curt grew up in the downtown area of Lewiston. He attended Whitman Elementary School and then later Lewiston High School, where he graduated in 1954.

Soon after graduating from high school, Curt joined the United States Air Force. He was assigned to the 3225th Drone Squadron, operating out of Holloman Air Force Base, which was attached to the Nike Ajax surface-to-air missile development program. After the Air Force, Curt went back to work in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

His love for hard work defined him. He tended bar for several years at The Sportsman's Club, a popular downtown Lewiston bar owned by his father, Robert. He worked as a hunting guide in the Bitterroot and Lolo National Forest areas. He hauled wheat from the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley to the grain elevators at Arlington, Ore. Seasonally, he worked for local jet boat innovator Dick Rivers, delivering mail and goods to the farmers and ranchers who lived along the rim of Hells Canyon.

It was about this time that he was introduced to Jeanette (Jean) Garrison at the legendary downtown Lewiston watering hole O'Briens Lounge. The couple would marry in the mid-'60s and have one child. In the early '70s, Curt joined the Teamsters union and began working on large-scale construction projects, including the Lewiston levee system and the Dworshak Dam. In the mid-1970s, he traveled to Alaska looking for work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, landing a job hauling the enormous pipe used to build the pipeline itself. He would later work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the gas fields of Wyoming on various construction projects.

In the late '80s, Curt was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was forced to retire early from the Teamsters. The second half of Curt's life was spent battling this physically and mentally debilitating disease, a battle he fought ferociously for almost 30 years. He finally lost his battle July 29, 2015, when he passed away peacefully at the Idaho State Veterans Home in Lewiston. Despite the pain and loss of half his life to this disease, he never stopped fighting.

He is survived by his son, Robert Charles Weston.

A memorial get-together will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Rooster's in Clarkston.