The Coulthurst’s wanted the Investor to be a family boat. Irene had fished with husband Mark during their early years in the industry and she missed it. For his part, Mark disliked being away from his wife and kids during the long fishing season. The Investor was large enough to accommodate everyone — children John and Kimberly, plus the crew. So when the salmon season started, Irene brought the kids north. They would fish as a family.
We owe many of our insights to Don Tapperson of the Bellingham Herald.
“It was during the last voyage of the Investor when it happened. The skiff was completing a set of the net. Suddenly, Mark Coulthurst ran from the bow to the stern, [and] yelled something to the crewman below. The skiff promptly roared away from the boat, leaving others aboard a bit puzzled.
“It was John Coulhurst’s fourth birthday, and his dad had invited the lad to the bow for a father-son chat. Young John arrived clutching his ever-present blanket in Linus-like fashion.
“While the set was proceeding behind the stern, Mark was telling his son that he was a big boy now. Was he sure that he still needed to cling to his security blanket?
“John thought about that for a while and made a momentous decision: He was indeed a big boy. The time had come for him and his baby blanket to part ways. He tossed it overboard and received the praise of his father.
“Then Mark took off down the deck and told the skiff operator to go fetch the blanket, ‘just in case.’
“It wasn’t necessary, for the boy was ready to stick by his decision.
“And a good thing, too, for before the skiff could reach it, the blanket had sunk.
“It was one of those anecdotes about John Dease Coulthurst and his sister Kimberly Lynn Coulthurst that their parents Mark and Irene loved to share with the children’s grandparents. There were many of them.
“Another day last month John wanted his fishing pole rigged up. His mother told him ‘after breakfast.’ But John was impatient, so he got his dad’s fishing pole, baited the hook himself, and dropped the line over the side.
“Before long, he was screaming and yelling for his mom. She dashed out to the deck to find him at one end of a first class tug-o-war. At the other end, it developed, was a halibut almost the size of John.
“Kimberly was no less a ‘character.’ She loved to make faces when photographed, which was often, be it a birthday party or on a family visit to Knott’s Berry Farm in California. Any excuse was sufficient for her doting parents, as page upon page of snapshots in family albums attest.
“She was born Feb. 17, 1977, the year before John, a month earlier than expected. Then, because of complications, her parents couldn’t take her home until Feb. 28. A letter written by her mother at the time tells of the pain of their separation. That would never happen again.
In fact, Irene and the kids were scheduled to return to Washington State that weekend — the weekend of the murders — so Kimberly could start school. Irene Coulthurst already had Kimberly’s school clothes laid out on her bed in Blaine — just in case they were late getting back from Alaska.
Donald Tapperson, The Bellingham Herald, September 26, 1982
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