Yet to spot a pretty girl in my new home of Kelso/Longview, but I do hold out hope – for one of the most beautiful women in the world was from Longview, and lived here her entire life.
It was a bit of a sensation when a Washington State girl, Sharry Konopski, became Playboy’s Playmate of the Month back in August, 1987. I once told her a funny story about my friends and I almost stopping at Bruno’s pizza on the way back from Seaside in the summer of ’88 to see if she was working there that day. She did go back to that pizza joint, briefly, before marrying and becoming a mother. Before a car accident a handful of years later left her a paraplegic… albeit one so determined, she posed for Playboy again.
When Sharry passed away of lung cancer 3 years ago, I wrote in East Portland Blog of my terrible regret – I knew she was sick (again). She was Facebooking from the hospital here in Longview – but I put off going down to see her. I’ll stop by on the way to Seaside soon and see her when she’s better, I thought.
What irony, coincidence – fate? – led me to this place, of all places. And the first lunch I had, on my first day here – Bruno’s. It’s less than 10 minutes from my house… I thought the name sounded familiar.
They ought to do something for you here, Sharry. Not only were you so beautiful and vivacious and unforgettable, but you were as tough as any logger around these parts. You were one of the brightest, shiniest things that Longview could ever call its own.
They oughta do something for you.
– Steve Stav
