Condolence: Gary hired me at the City of Grande Prairie pools. I remember him as a tough but fair boss. He had high expectations for his staff; I learned about discipline and having pride in my work, perseverance, teamwork, and taking risks. As a young lifeguard, I was so impressed with Gary’s achievements. I believe he was one of few in Canada who reached Diploma status with Royal Life. Lifelong friendships were forged at the pool because of Gary’s commitment to potential, hard work, and always to fun. My heartfelt sympathies to his family and friends.

Condolence: To the family and friends of Gary...
Please know that his swimming pool “Family” are saddened to hear of Gary’s passing.....every summer back then came and went, with each summer renewing acquaintances and spending countless hours together in or out of water, almost hating to turn out the lights!! Sadly, those days are long behind us, and we went our separate ways....this moment in time brings us back, with loving thoughts of Gary....a beautiful swimmer, a warm, shy guy, innocently pigeon toed, and a quiet charmer.
Our Sympathies. Rest In Peace, Gary.
Brian Shackleton
Barb(Shackleton) Billings
Pati Wigelsworth

Condolence:
I haven't seen Gary in many years. We were friends in High School -- we played defence together on the football team-- and knew each other in University --he dated my sister Debbie--but it wasn't until we graduated and started working in the late 70's that I got to know him well. At that time Grande Prairie was a "boom town" with a severe housing shortage. Gary bought a house on 104 Avenue in 1976 and afterwood bought another house on 107 Avenue in 1978. And, he rented me rooms in these houses, along with three or four other people.

Gary was very generous. Although he could have charged much more , he divided his mortgage payment by the number of people living in the house ( including himself ) and that was the rent. In addition, he supplied all the furnishings and household items needed at no cost. I lived with him for four years , along with an assortment of roommates -- Ron, Don, Bruce, Mary, Blake and others-- that came and went.

Gary ran the house with an "iron hand". He had to , with each of us having our own cleaning duties that we did our best to avoid.He was patient and reasonable as a landlord, and he was also a generous and loyal friend. He had a no nonsense demeanor and a very straight forward way of expressing himself , and he gave practical and honest opinions if you asked him on a variety of topics. Perhaps , most importantly to me , he was fun and interesting to be around.

We had big parties at the house several times a year. Gary introduced the idea of a non-smoking party , which is common today but radical at the time. After work we often had group runs of about five miles, with Gary struggling to keep up. Endurance was not his strong suit but he was always willing to give it a shot. Once when we were short of players for a soccer league game I asked Gary to come out...and to my surprise he did without ever having played organized soccer before...and he was good!

I left Grand Prairie in 1980 and sometime afterward Gary moved to Sundre. But I always thought back about the good times I had living with him and my other roommates in the two houses. I never really kept in touch with Gary after that period but I always wanted to thank him for those times and his generousity. I am thanking him now.

Doug

Condolence: We have always treasured our trips out to Bearberry to visit Gary. All the fun adventures and daily walks around his quarter. Quad trips and Bonfires. Gary taught us and our kids to appreciate the simple things. We will continue to go for walks, telling your stories and thinking about you Gary and all you have taught us. Missing you!