Gary was a good friend.We both worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I dipped and breaded the chicken and he cooked it. We paid for our motorcycles with our earnings. I played a good gag on him about 20 years ago. My family was at Pasta House when Gary and family came in. We had a great talk. Then the shenanigans began. I paid my check secretly and told the waitress to present our bill to Gary after we left. I then waited outside and waved goodbye, through a window, at his family. The face he showed was priceless as I smiled and went to the next window and then took off running. That was the last time I saw him. His wife and son might remember it.

So sad to hear that Gary is gone. I knew him from grade school to graduation. We both lived in Dellwood, separated by a creek that we used to go up and down and act like Daniel Boone. We would meet at Lemasters and ride sleds on the hill in the winter and play at Bon Oak Park in the summer, which was at the end of my street about 6 houses away. I spent more time with him out of school than in school because we were hardly in any classes together. Fun guy though. RIP Gary.

I first met Gary at Central Junior High and instantly liked him. He had a charisma even back then. We shared a lot of good times in and out of school. We especially had fun in shop class. It was almost like recess for our group of friends. (I found out years later in my job that I had actually learned some skills I found useful).  As we turned 16 and got our licenses, we focused on getting a car. His was a '58 Chevy with the dual exhaust, as he liked to say. Our friendship went through high school and into college when we both started taking Law Enforcement classes together at FV.  One teacher we had was a big guy with a mustache who Gary nicknamed "the Captain," since he looked like Captain Kangaroo. We sat next to each other and one day, after I had missed a class, I asked him what I missed. He said, "Oh, Joe, you missed it! He taught us how to put handcuffs on Dancing Bear." I had to supress my laughter for the rest of the class. Rest in Peace, my friend.