Cousin Chuck

Jeff Higgins · 03-18-2008, 06:16 AM

My hero. Chuck is quite a bit older than me, having been born to one of my dad's oldest sisters (he was second youngest of 13 kids, so there was about a 20 year span between him and my aunt). I will always remember Chuck from when I was a kid, and we would spend Sunday afternoons at my aunt and uncle's place. He always had something fun (and probably not entirely legal...) for us kids to do. All of his cousins looked up to him, as he was one of the oldest, but yet loved to play with, and entertain us.

Chuck has had a hard life. Most of it he has brought upon himself. He is as stubborn as any Irishman before or since, with a heart as big as any man's. Most of his personal troubles have come about through his desire to help others. This desire led him to a career as a cop, and eventually ended his career as a cop. How ironic.

He hasn't slowed down a bit, though. Chuck takes great pleasure in poking his finger in the eye of gubmint bureaucracy and inefficiency, taunting them to do what is right by the people by following his lead. Anyway, kind of a long article, but it pretty well captures the essence of Chuck.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2007-02-28/news/king-of-iron-mountain-a-trip-inside-the-fred-sanford-fiefdom-of-a-vigilante-ex-cop.php

onewhippedpuppy · 03-18-2008, 06:37 AM

Cool story. What an interesting man.

Joeaksa · 03-18-2008, 06:41 AM

Looks like a real character. Nothing wrong with that and I love the way he dives right in on projects that the city/state will not do and gets them done overnight.

Had to really agree with this:

One of his earliest memories involves straightening bent nails with a hammer and brick for his dad, who wanted to reuse them. "Charles," his father said, "if a man made it, a man ought to be able to fix it."

Far too many people are afraid to dive in and figure out what makes something work.

LakeCleElum · 03-18-2008, 08:43 AM

Jeff: Don't ask me how, but I knew you had to be talking about Chuck Pillion even before I clicked over on the article. Chuck has been a legend around Renton an South Seattle for 20+ years. Chuck and I have crossed paths on more than once over the years. Funny how he mentions the old bars east of Renton: Leonards and Doofers - been in both just a few times.

I knew his brother Ken fairly well and was devastated when he was killed in the Back-hoe accident; late 1980's if I recall? I went to the funeral. I think the Fire Dept. still holds an annual Ken Pillion Golf match?

Had no idea you were cousins.......

Jeff Higgins · 03-18-2008, 09:47 AM

Well Bob, Ken's funeral would have been the first time we "met", even though it must have been 15 years before we really did meet and get to know one another. Small world.

We used to have some real rip-roarin' family reunions up on the hill with Chuck. Losing Ken (and a number of others from the extended Higgins clan) kind of took the wind out of his sails for all of that, though. It seemed like we only saw each other at funerals after that, as all of our parents (or aunts and uncles, depending) were getting on in years and passing away. We lost a lot of them in those days.

Funny, my mom and surviving aunts and uncles are fond of saying "thank God he's not a Higgins..." in only a half-joking kind of way. Everyone knows he's nuts, but in a good, big hearted way. Not many like him anymore.

LakeCleElum · 03-18-2008, 07:28 PM

I remember the funeral well, wished we would have met up then - I had my XKE then and maybe even a 912? No 911 until 1990?

I remember all the news articles about Chuck in the early '90's.....I think most of us saw him for the upstanding guy he is!!!!!! I've heard him discussed a lot, but really never heard a bad word about him....