Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Captain Ben Hurtig dies at 93

Wartime Marine, Sun Valley Gun Club chief fires his final shot


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

In 1980, Ben Hurtig poses at the Sun Valley Gun Club next to his old Ford along with one of the nine hunting dogs he kept during his lifetime?named Pahsimeroi Poker Face, in honor of a good chukar hunting area near Challis. Express photo by Jeff Cordes

He spent 20 years in the U.S. Marines and about 25 years running the Sun Valley Gun Club. Ketchum's Ben Hurtig, who lived a long and productive life, died Friday night at his Ketchum home at age 93.

A tough taskmaster, Hurtig was known by generations of Sun Valley visitors and locals as a man who enjoyed passing along the lessons of shooting well and safely. But he was kind and a good friend as well. He enriched the lives of many.

Once, Hurtig had a mean hunting dog that put the fear of God into Ernest Hemingway himself. The Hurtig house along the Big Wood River just north of Ketchum was located close to Hemingway's Ketchum-area home.

He was a tough instructor.

Hurtig barked as he roamed the gun club range, "You never point a gun at anything or anybody you don't want to shoot. You never swing the muzzle past anybody. We learned that in the Marine Corps ... The road goes back to Ketchum the same way it comes up here. If you don't want to do it my way, then leave."

But Hurtig liked having fun, and you could always find a drink on Sundays in the Sun Valley Lodge Ski Room when Hurtig worked there in 1960.

Hurtig's trapshooting friend Bernie Curry said three years ago upon the occasion of Hurtig's 90th birthday, "Ben is always jovial and always has a twinkle in his eye. And he always has a story. He's fun to be around—a nice fellow."

A memorial service for the strict disciplinarian who was closely identified with trapshooting and guiding at Sun Valley will be Thursday, Feb. 2, at noon in the Limelight Room of the Sun Valley Inn. Visitation is today, Wednesday, Feb. 1, from 1-8 p.m. at the Wood River Chapel, in Hailey.

Military graveside rites will be performed following Thursday's memorial service at the Ketchum Cemetery, at 3 p.m.

A Ketchum resident for 50 years, Washington state native Hurtig was best known for shooting skeet and trap and shooting the breeze. He was a national trapshooting champion in the Veterans' class. His teaching skills were legendary.

But it was his love of flying that helped keep Hurtig mentally alert and always learning new things after he and his wife, Peggy Helms Hastings Hurtig, retired from operating Sun Valley Gun Club in 1982.

He was master and commander of his beloved Super Cub for 28 years, flying it more than 2,000 hours into Idaho's backcountry and faraway destinations. At the age of 90, he logged 100 hours in the air over the course of 11 months.

Hurtig, along with locals Pete Johnson and Bud Purdy, were members of a loosely organized 300-member national group called the "UFOs," or the United Flying Octogenarians.

"Flying has saved me," Hurtig said at 90. "It's something you have to be sharp at—you can't make many mistakes."

Hurtig last flew an airplane Nov. 17, 2005. As a passenger with his friend Ron Brady, he flew Jan. 14, a couple of weeks before his death.

Known to locals just as "Captain," which was Hurtig's rank when he retired from the U.S. Marines in 1956—and also was the identification on his license plate—Ben had simple explanations for his longevity.

The first was his enduring 33-year marriage to Peggy Hurtig, who survives her husband. His strong religious faith was certainly another reason.

His outlook on life was one more explanation. Hurtig said in 2002, "One reason why I'm doing as well as I am is I've never been in a hurry. If you hurry with a car, an airplane or a gun, you're in trouble."

He enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1936 and spent three and a half years in China. When World War II began, Hurtig went on Midway Island in January 1941 and came off in August 1942. He made officer by the time he got off Midway, and joined the landing on Okinawa in 1945.

Hurtig spent a year in Korea in the Korean War and made captain in 1952. His final three years of service were spent at Camp Pendleton in California, where Hurtig was base range officer in charge of rifle, artillery and pistol ranges.

Here's how Hurtig modestly and with good humor described his service at Camp Pendleton:

"I had a good lieutenant. He knew what it was all about and ran the thing. I checked in at 8 a.m. and checked out at 8:30 a.m."

Never idle for long, Hurtig started shooting competitively in peacetime duty while on the Marine rifle team. Two of his proudest possessions were Marine gold medals for "Distinguished Pistol Shot" and "Distinguished Marksman."

Author Galen Hanselman, who dedicated his book on backcountry adventure flying to Hurtig, said the "Captain" taught him responsibility and appreciation of firearms and hunting. He always liked an entry from Hurtig's logbook:

The entry said, "Good judgment comes from experience; and experience comes from bad judgment."

Fortunately, Hurtig rarely exercised bad judgment. Patient, always alert, he barked encouragement to generations. Once, his wife Peggy said, "Ben can be tough, but he likes you until you prove otherwise."

"Make your mind up and you'll hit it," he would say on the range. "If you're thinking right, nothing can bother you."




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