Dear Family and Friends,

Many of you have heard about losing our dear, dear weatherman George Maupin this past week on Valentine’s Day. So fitting to have George pass away on the day of love because SO SO SO many of us loved that man!

Dave Cotton, Matt Rogers, Sean Owsley and I had the amazing opportunity to present the KHQ Morning Show together for more than a decade starting in the early 2000’s and ending in 2012. During that time period, you woke up with us every morning and enjoyed the laughter that George brought to all of us who worked with him, both behind the camera and with all of YOU who were at home getting ready for your day!

There was one time when George and Matt were doing live weather down at Riverfront Park with George sliding down the Big Red Wagon after the sprinklers had been on! Well Matt, being kind, gave George a towel from the live truck so George could sit on that as he slid down the slide! With Dave and I watching from the studio, helpless, knowing what was about to happen! Oh he went down the slide alright, the towel acting like one of those gunny sacks you use to go down a slide at the fair, as he flew like a ROCKET down and OFF the slide into thin air, landing on his tail bone! When we came back on air, Dave and I, of course were concerned he wasn’t hurt, but, we couldn’t keep the tears of laughter from falling down our faces. For weeks afterwards, every place I went people wanted to talk about George and the Big Red Wagon!

Then there was the time we were all outside our studios on a beautiful summer day with George while he did the weather! A young man, minding his own business I might add, came walking behind us obviously on his way to work downtown. He was carrying his paper sack lunch in his hand, so George being George, thought it a good idea to ask the fine young man what was in his lunch! Well actually as he was asking him, he took the lunch sack from his hands and looked inside! Well, there happened to be fresh bing cherries inside so we “borrowed” some of the young man’s cherries, started eating them live on air and then doing the cherry pit spitting contest with each other right there in front of the station! It was one of those amazing chemistry on air moments! Something tells me that young man probably changed the route he walked to work from that time on!

Speaking of that chemistry. I was in radio and television for 37 years starting in Spokane, then Sacramento, Seattle, and Chicago before returning home in 2000 to do the Morning Show for 14 years. In all that time I worked with some amazing people across the country but NO ONE quite like George! The chemistry between us both off and on air was precious. We made each other laugh every single day we worked together, and I mean every day. All of us that were involved in that Morning Show, including the incredible behind the scenes crew, couldn’t wait to see what in heaven’s name was going to come out of that man’s mouth next!!!!

When Dave and I started anchoring the show together in 2001, Dave asked me off air for the two of us to be a true team what was the one thing he could do. I looked at him and simply said “Protect the girl”. While Dave protected me both on and off the air, I swear it was George’s mission in life to do EXACTLY the opposite on our morning show!

Take, for example, the morning he and I were standing side by side in the weather center waiting for the commercial break to end. We always kind of gave each other guff lovingly before we came back from break, him teasing me about something!!! George used to always refer to me on air as quote “a woman your age” indicating I was old, but I can tell you I never expected what came out of his mouth next. We go live on the air and he instantly turns to me and asks “You’re wearing a girdle, right?” My mouth dropped, I looked at the camera, I looked at him, I looked back at the camera and then said to him “WHERE do you get this kind of stuff??” He goes on to tell you at home and me that “no, no don’t get me wrong you look great for a “woman your age” but I just have always figured you wear a girdle!” I took the palm of my hand, thumped him on his forehead and told him to DO the weather!!! As you can imagine we were all laughing so hard!!

I know I speak for so many of you for the love we have for George. To say thank you to a man who was so kind to everyone he would meet, to all of us who were blessed to work with him....to say thank you just simply doesn’t seem like enough. I know he is doing his own comedy show in Heaven now and one day we will see him again. In the meantime, my dear Georgie, I love you, I miss you, thank YOU for giving so much of yourself to us. To his wonderful wife Nancy and his dear son Will, thank YOU for sharing your George with all of us. Thank you!