Passages

Frank L. Goodykoontz, 1926-2005

Multiply awarded outings leader Frank Goodykoontz passed away on New Year's Day. He finished the Hundred Peaks Section list first in 1977 on Heart Bar Peak and for the ninth time in 1995. He led the HPS list four times. He received the following HPS awards: the John Backus Leadership Award in 1986, the R. S. Fink Award in 1990, and the Preeminent All-Time Leader Award in 1999. He also received the Angeles Chapter Chester Versteeg Award in 1994.

Goodykoontz is remembered for his encouraging smile on difficult hikes. 'It's just like going uphill, isn't it?' he was known to say when hikers were about ready to quit. He was also known for his skill at nighttime navigation.

Les Stockton, 1916-2004

Les Stockton passed away on April 19, 2004, after a long battle with melanoma cancer. He served 35 years in the Air Force, was a pioneer in the physical fitness movement, a butterfly collector, and a mountaineer.

Stockton was full of zest, energy, and infectious good-humor-a man living life to the fullest. Those of us privileged to attend one of his Ten Essentials lectures he gave for the Club's Basic Mountaineering Training Course in the 1960s and '70s will never forget the belly laughs nor the underlying seriousness of his talk.

Stockton and wife Abbye were among the earliest habitués of the physical fitness area that grew up around Santa Monica Pier in the 1930s and became known worldwide as Muscle Beach. As a result of their involvement with the emerging health movement, they owned and operated several gyms in the post-WWII years.

It was while seeking high-altitude butterfly species that Stockton was introduced to mountaineering and the Sierra Club. In October of 1967 he led his first outing for the Hundred Peaks Section. Seven months later he led the first HPS Peakbaggers' Special, in which the objective was to climb as many listed HPS peaks as possible in one very long day. These became annual events for Stockton through the mid-1970s, and have been continued off-and-on by a host of successor HPS leaders to this day.

Stockton also led outings for the Desert Peaks Section, and served on both the DPS and HPS management committees, coming to chair the HPS in 1969 and the DPS in 1973. Stockton was always easy to spot on the trail in his standard bright-red jumpsuit and crimson hat-leading to his nickname, the Red Baron. Stockton also found time to serve on the Chapter Executive Committee from 1972 through 1975.

In acknowledgment of his many contributions, the Angeles Chapter bestowed an Outings Service Award upon Stockton in 1979.

-Bob Cates

Chuck Striegel, 1936-2005

Charles E. Striegel, Angeles Chapter leader and office volunteer, passed away after a long illness. Striegel led numerous car camps, bike rides, hikes, and many other events as diverse as wine tasting parties and Mono Lake kayaking.

He mentored many Angeles Chapter leaders and served as their provisional evaluator as early as 1988. He always had a quick smile, a ready laugh, and a helping hand. Anyone who rode a bike with him knew they could count on him having a tool kit, tire pump, and gauge, and enough chain lube for a hundred enthusiasts.

Striegel had a 36-year career at the U.S. Department of Labor where, as the Wage and Hour Division's deputy district director, he assisted in the recovery of millions of dollars in back wages for underpaid workers in low-wage industries. As a volunteer at the Angeles Chapter office after he retired, he helped callers learn more about the Sierra Club and encouraged new members to get involved.

Married three times, he leaves a legacy of two daughters, Alice and Stephanie, and a son, Adam, and four grandchildren, all of whom he instilled with his love of life, nature, and the outdoors.