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Early Times

I haven't seen Gary in many years . I went to high school with him -- we played defence together on the football team-- and lived together for about four years when I started work in the late 70's after we graduated from college It was at this time that I got to know him better and to consider him a friend. At that time Grand Prairie was a "boom town" with a severe housing shortage. Gary bought a house on 104 Avenue around 1976 and a second house in 1978 on 107 Avenue -- and rented me a room along with three or four other people that we new. Gary was a generous friend. Even though he could have charged much more, he divided his morgage payments by the number of people living in the house, including himself, and that became the amount of the rent. And he supplied all the furniture, appliances and household items at no extra cost. I lived with him for four years, along with assorted roommates--Ron, Don, Bruce, Mary, Blake-- to name a few. Gary ran the house with an "iron hand". He had to. Each of us had our own cleaning duties, which we did our best to avoid. During this time I realized what a patient and likable person he was. He had a way of stating things in clear, no nonesense language , and giving practical advice when you discussed a problem. And, he was fun to be around. We had big parties at the houses several times a year. Gary introduced the concept of a non-smoking party , which seems common now, but was radical then. aft er work we had group runs of four or five miles with gary usually trying to keep up. Endurance was not his strong suit , but he was game for anything. Once when we were short of players on our soccer team I asked gary to fill in....and he did without ever having played organized soccer before, and he was pretty good! I left Grande Prairie in 1980, and shortly after Gary moved to Sundre. I never really kept in touch but I thought about living in the two houses over the years with Gary and everyone else, and what a great time we had. I always wanted to thank him for that experience and his generousity, but I regret I never got around to it. I guess I'm thanking him now.
Friday December 29, 2017 at 7:25 pm
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