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Wednesday, May 2, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Golfers
improve
game at
Awbrey
Glen
By Rongi Yost
Correspondent
Outlaws golfers showed
improvement in their game
last week at Awbrey Glen.
Golfers enjoyed beautiful
weather, which helped pro-
duce better scores.
On Tuesday, the boys fin-
ished seventh out of all teams
in attendance at the tour-
nament. Individually, they
showed big improvement in
their game, especially the top
three players.
Wyatt Hernandez carded
a 90 to lead the Outlaws.
Hernandez shot a 46 on
the front nine, and was two
strokes better on the back
nine. He started his game with
three straight pars and finished
the round with five.
Peyton Myhre was just
six strokes back at 96, and
Kincaid Smeltzer finished at
104. Dan Schmidt shot a 117
and Connor Crowe rounded
out the scores with a 125.
“Wyatt and Peyton both
had several pars, which
was great,” said Coach Bill
Mitchell. “But our top three
players all had a nine, and we
need to avoid the nines. If they
could have each made a six
instead of a nine, we would
have shaved nine strokes off
our team score and broke
400! Overall, the boys’ short
games, chipping and putting,
are improving.”
Hernandez, Myhre,
and first-year Smeltzer all
recorded their best competi-
tive rounds ever.
Mitchell said, “Anyone that
can walk 18 holes and count
every stroke is a winner in my
book. We need to just keep
the momentum rolling with
Districts just one week away.”
The Outlaws were to
play at Meadow Lakes on
Monday, April 30. They
will play at Black Butte
Ranch on Thursday, May 5,
and then attend the District
Championships at Tokatee on
Monday and Tuesday, May 7
and 8.
AriAnne Griffy was the
only girl to play in the Awbrey
Glen Tournament on Monday,
and finished with a 126. Bend
took first with a team score of
335 and Summit was runner-
up at 384.
All four girls are expected
to compete at the District
Tournament which will be
held at the Santiam Golf
Course on Monday and
Tuesday, May 7 and 8.
Obituary
Henry “Hank” Kreminski
Henry “Hank” Kreminski
was taken peacefully and with
dignity to be with the Lord on
April 20, 2018 at the age of
97.
He was a loving and caring
husband of 65 years of mar-
riage, an awesome father and
role model, and a grandfather.
He is survived by his two
sons: Jim of Sisters and Gary
of Palm Springs, California,
as well as Jim’s wife Joyce;
two grandchildren, Carly
and Cody; and one who he is
now reunited with in Heaven,
Casey.
He was born and raised
in Cleveland, Ohio, where
he grew up in a good Polish
home, and was the young-
est among five children, two
brothers and two sisters. His
father, Frank Kreminski,
was from Warsaw, Poland,
and came to America with
a dream to get other family
members over — which he
ended up doing later, getting
his sisters out as well.
Although he had been
born into a decade where the
“Great Depression” started,
his family managed through
hard work and blue-collar
business tactics to hang on
to most of their possessions
as well as their home when
many had lost everything.
Our father, like many
young men of the day, car-
ried that memory of struggle
throughout his life, seeing
things that he rarely ever
repeated; but family tradi-
tion and commitment to
making it in America pushed
the Kreminskis forward and
brought them together teach-
ing them to never give up the
dream.
Hank went to East Tech
High School, and one of his
main passions was baseball.
With him being a southpaw,
which was rare, he ended up
becoming a good pitcher, but
in 1936 with money very tight
it was decided at 16 years old
that he get out of the city and
join the Three C Camps that
were just started in the U.S.,
so he got on a train and ended
up in Wallace, Idaho.
This city boy was in awe
of the majestic mountains
and pine trees, and this was
a beginning of a new chap-
ter for him. He learned from
seasoned lumberjacks how
to cut down and clear trees,
and how to deal with nature
and the outdoors in general,
and from what he always said
was one of the best years of
his life. He also enjoyed sing-
ing with the workers and even
learned how to play the har-
monica, something which he
played on and off all his life.
Little did he know this
training and discipline would
be needed to survive a war
that was yet to come!
Shortly after he came back
home, World War II broke
out and at age 20 he enlisted
in the Army. Because of his
aptitude, the Army decided
to place him in the Medical
Corps, but after a few months
knowing that he wasn’t cut
out for it, decided he wanted
to be on the ground and ended
up in the infantry as a private.
In no time he was promoted
to Staff Sergeant and then
Platoon Sergeant, leading his
own platoon of men.
Shortly he was sent to
France and Germany, where
he and his men bravely fought
on D-Day in Normandy, on
Omaha Beach. They were on
the 17th wave. He only spoke
briefly of that memory, but
he survived the battle with
the good Lord getting him
through it.
One of his proud memo-
ries was how he and his pla-
toon captured a German gen-
eral who had surrendered, and
ended up taking his Luger
from him.
When he finally landed
home on the Queen Mary,
that was one of the first things
he sold getting off the ship —
never wanting anything con-
nected with that part of his
life again.
Although he wanted to
be home for Christmas,
he reached his home on
December 26, 1945, and
walked in with full uniform
on and into a full house to
greet him.
His future changed again,
for there that day he met his
soul-mate, Marie, and after
they met and went out for a
few months they were mar-
ried in 1946 and never left
each other’s side for 65 years,
until she passed in July of
2011 at 88 years old.
Dad and Mom stayed in
Cleveland for a year or so
and wanted to make a life
there, but because of a rela-
tive needing their help, they
packed up and moved to
Phoenix Arizona, where he
stayed and worked and man-
aged his aunt’s bar business
for most of his early career.
He had his two chil-
dren there,
and worked
and lived in
Arizona until
1960.
S i n c e
Mom had a
sister living
in San Diego,
California,
they decided
to move to
a little town
called Santee.
Dad landed a
job in an aeronautics company
as an aircraft parts inspector
for a short time until he got
hurt on the job, and after that
he quit and pursued the entre-
preneur’s life and bought and
sold real estate and did pri-
vate lending for the rest of his
life before retiring.
The family lived in San
Diego for most of their lives
with Dad and Mom moving
back to Arizona in the 1980s,
but eventually coming back
to CA. and stayed there until
2010. Jim had already moved
to Oregon a year earlier, so
he packed them up and they
moved to God’s Country and
resided here the rest of their
lives.
In 2015 he made the jour-
ney to Washington, DC for
the Veterans Honor Flight
where he humbly received
honors for his service. One of
the highlights of all our lives
was that trip we took with a
Dad who was a man of Honor,
Dignity and Courage, and
who was loved by many. We
are forever thankful to him
for his dedication as a father
and bravery as a soldier.
His pride and joy were in
his family, and the many cel-
ebrations and holiday occa-
sions throughout his years
were always at the Kreminski
home, where he was proud to
host and serve others and his
legacy and what he stood for
will never be forgotten.
His Celebration of his Life
in Honors was on April 30,
at the Willamette National
Cemetery in Portland.
Information provided by
the family of Hank Kreminski.