Missing Kayaker Lover of Water

By Kristin M. Kraemer, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.

Jun. 6–Gary D. Kirk tried to get out on the water in his kayak every weekend and explore the Mid-Columbia’s numerous waterways.

An athlete and strong swimmer, he was so comfortable with the paddle in his hands that he rarely wore a life jacket.

So on Saturday when Kirk took his daughter’s friend out for a ride down the swollen and debris-strewn Yakima River, he was unprepared for the swift water that tipped their kayak and tossed the two about after going over Wanawish Dam. The Yakima River is marked with signs above the lowhead dam cautioning boaters not to cross.

“He always loved the outdoors. He loved kayaking. … He used to go out with it every chance he got,” said his daughter, Janelle. “Out on Horn Rapids (dam) where he was, he’d been over it so many times; it was never as bad as this water. He was very familiar with it.”

Gary Kirk has been missing since 4:30 p.m. Saturday when a witness lost sight of him after seeing him surface a couple of times about 30 feet downstream from the dam. Officials with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office have said he is presumed drowned.

Cody L. Hughes, who was with Kirk in the two-person kayak, clung to a submerged tree until Columbia Basin Dive Rescue could reach him.

Kirk’s two teenage children say they “expect the worst but hope for the best.”

Aaron Kirk spent all night Saturday searching for his father with a flashlight and has been out on the shoreline daily, clinging to the thought that he may be hurt and is just waiting to be found.

“He was all me and my brother had. We were the three of us,” Janelle Kirk said. “It’s going to be really hard when it starts to settle in. It hasn’t been confirmed at all because there hasn’t been anything found. That is just the hardest part is not knowing.”

Kirk lived in Kennewick for about 15 years. He got custody of his two children about six years ago and had been raising them on his own ever since, said Janelle.

Their mother lives in Eugene, Ore.

Both children still live at home: Janelle is 19 and Aaron turns 18 Friday. Gary Kirk celebrated his 46th birthday in April.

Kirk was employed by Northwest Restoration of Richland, where his job was to fix homes after disasters like floods and fires. Janelle Kirk said her father got a lot of emergency calls after the recent storms that passed through the Mid-Columbia.

Gary Kirk enjoyed building things and working with tools. Janelle said when she was younger her father built motorhomes and would make his own moccasins out of old toolbags.

“He was very handy and creative and very good at his job and what he did,” she said.

Kirk was also known for his laugh and for being a second dad to Janelle and Aaron’s friends, who knew they could talk to him if ever they had a problem.

Hughes, 20, of Kennewick, is good friends with Janelle Kirk and went out in the kayak with her father for the first time Saturday.

“He said the whole time it was just a good trip and they were having so much fun and talking about doing it again, and just that one moment and it was all over,” she said.

Hughes told her that after they went over the dam, the backwash started pulling the kayak back so Kirk said they needed to paddle hard. Then the boat began filling with water and tipped over, and Hughes remembers the water throwing him around so much that he’s surprised he survived and made it to safety, she said.

“His contacts got washed out, and he said he was looking for my dad and calling for him, but he couldn’t see anything,” she said. Hughes suffered some bruises and swollen feet, but joined Gary Kirk’s friends and co-workers in their search, she added.

The sheriff’s office resumed its search Monday morning, flying low over the length of the river for any sign of Kirk’s body, said Capt. Charles Kissler.

“With the river there is the issue that it’s a little bit dirty right now, so it’s hard to see into it. But they’re doing the best that they can,” Kissler said. “It’s just a real unfortunate circumstance.”

Three dive rescue members spent a few hours on the water Monday evening. They will return this evening with at least 10 members who will search via personal watercraft and inflatable boats and on foot on both shores, said spokesman Scott Pattison.

Janelle Kirk said she hasn’t participated because she doesn’t think she can handle being the one to find her dad, so she has stayed by the phone taking calls and keeping everyone updated.

“Neither of us has really lost anyone close. We don’t know how to handle it,” Janelle said. “I know it hasn’t set in all the way yet. I know that everything is going to change. I know the rent is covered for a month but I don’t know about the electricity, and we have to find out about other bills.”

She said her dad’s father and stepmother, along with other relatives, are expected to arrive in the Tri-Cities today.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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