Remember The Four -- Gregory A. Shoemaker

A boyhood friend of Gregory A. Shoemaker, a man who played football next to him as a lineman at Rainier Beach High School, disputes at least one of the reports about the fatal fire that killed Shoemaker and three other firefighters last week.

Shoemaker, 43, was credited with saving the lives of some colleagues by shouting at them to leave the building, just before the floor collapsed.

But contrary to those reports, Shoemaker didn't say, "Get the heck out of here!" Not according to friend Jim Courtright.

"I guarantee you he said, `Get the hell out of here,' or worse," Courtright said. "He could cuss like a sailor.

"He would have wanted to be the last one out of that building. That's just the way he was."

But Courtright said his friend wasn't worried about the day-to-day danger of fighting fires.

Shoemaker's widow concurred. She said she never worried about him because he didn't take chances.

"He was an old-time firefighter," Karen Shoemaker said. "He wanted to put the fires out."

The son of a firefighter, Shoemaker knew that line of work was his calling. He and Karen, high-school sweethearts, were married right after Shoemaker was hired. He recently finished high on the list of those expecting to be promoted to captain.

This past summer, he had gone to Central Washington to help battle the forest fires that were threatening Leavenworth and Cashmere.

"It was an opportunity to do something to help those people," Karen Shoemaker said.

Helping out was as much a part of Gregory Shoemaker as fighting fires. Courtright said that as recently as New Year's weekend, when trees were blown down in Maple Valley, Shoemaker canvassed the area with a chain saw to help remove the trees.

Shoemaker's other love was the outdoors.

The family moved to the Maple Valley area in 1986, to 5 wooded acres. Shoemaker cleared some of the land, built the barn, the house and an arena for his daughters to ride their horses.

And he taught them his love of hunting.

A former president of the King County Outdoor Sports Council and president of the Washington State Hound Council, Shoemaker liked to hunt bear and other dangerous prey.

Over Christmas, Shoemaker and his daughter, Amy, were hunting when she shot her first bobcat.

"He bragged about that," Karen Shoemaker said. "He was very proud."

------------------------ GREGORY ALLEN SHOEMAKER. ------------------------ - Age: 43. - Residence: Maple Valley. - Rank: lieutenant. - Length of service: 23 years. - Station: Beacon Hill, No. 13. - Previous work: fished in Alaska after high school. - Education: 1969 graduate of Rainier Beach High School. Attended community college. - Hobbies: hunting and fishing. - Family: wife, Karen; daughters, Amy, 20, and Kari, 17; brothers, John and Mark; sister, Kim Anderson; and parents, John and Bette Shoemaker, Enumclaw.