Garys Celebration August 23 2008

We had a fantastic turnout with many friends, co-workers, neighbors and family.

Gary would have been proud of his super deck that held all of his admirers....the food was delicious, the beer was cold, and the stories will never be forgotten.

Thank all of you who came....and for those who were not here in person I am sure you were there in spirit.

So many people said that we lived life well, and that we did. I miss Gary terribly....I think about him all the time and I have constant reminders of him here at home, but I shall survive.....this is just just another hurdle in this game we call life.

Remembering Gary in Ohio - August 29 & 30

There will be a Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday, 30 Aug at 12:00 PM in Sacred Heart Church in Wadsworth with Father Michael Smith as Celebrant.

Burial will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Friends may call Friday from 6 to 8 PM at the Hilliard-Rospert Funeral Home 174 N. Lyman St. in Wadsworth.

This Saturday starting at 4:00 pm until ???

We will be celebrating Gary's life at our house on Bainbridge. We will have food, drink, music, and memories. If you didn't receive the evite, here's a link to announcement:


http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?inviteId=SWNQKEFLGPGSHBHZMEYZ&li=iq&src=email


An online memory book is available at http://www.mem.com/. You can sign the guest book and you can also call an 800 number and leave a voice message for Gary. All the messages will collected into a permanent memory book with the photos, written, and transcribed voice messages.

Gary will be laid to rest in his hometown of Wadsworth, Ohio. Arrangements for the funeral mass and vigil are not yet final. I will post the details as soon as I have a date, time, and place.

Gary Boating

This was taken last summer on our cross country trip in celebration of my 40th birthday.

It is a little shaky but it's wonderful seeing Gary so happy smiling and waving at you.

Peace

What a guy.....

Remembering Gary in Ohio

It occurs to me that many people are following the blog from all over the country and want to pay their respects to Gary.

Gary's family will also be honoring Gary in his hometown in Wadsworth, Ohio. We don't have a date yet, but we will post the information here as soon as we know the details about the service.

Gary's Spirit

Tonight while standing in my driveway talking on the phone to Gary's cousin Chris and wife Louise a grey owl swooped down and flew around me and sat in a tree next to the house. It was rocking its head back and forth.

Wow.....It swept through my heart and the feeling is still there. Gary is with me always.

Saturday August 23

Next Saturday afternoon, beginning about 4:00 in the afternoon, we will celebrate Gary's life at our home on Bainbridge, 600 Deercliff Road. About 6:00 pm we will gather together to honor Gary with music, stories, laughter, and tears. Then we'll party like until it's time to go.

Bring your stories, your memories, momentos, photos, or anything you'd like to share about your time with Gary.

It would be nice to know how many people to expect so please let us know here on the blog if you think you'll be here.

With Love,

Morissa



The picture below Karen took when she left the hospital - Jeff and Gary together again streaking across the sky.

Memories

A Celebration for Gary

Gary's great ride on earth has ended and he will live forever in spirit and in our hearts. He left us peacefully last night, surrounded by his large and loving family -- his parents Bob and Helen; his big sister Susie and her daughter Jeannette; big brother Mark and his wife Martie; brother David and his wife Becky; his sister Kathy; and our sister in spirit, bro Jeff's wife Karen.

We ask that instead of flowers other gifts please consider making a contribution in Gary's name to the Rob Smith Recovery fund. Like Gary, Rob suffered a traumatic head injury while training for the Baja 1000 in November 2007. Rob survived and is recovering in San Diego. Rob is Jennette's (Gary's niece) fiance. Please read about Rob and Jeannette here http://rsrecovery.blogspot.com/.

We will celebrate Gary's life on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, August 23 at our home on Bainbridge Island. Watch the blog for additional details a little later today as we firm up plans. Plan to join us.

Thank you again for all the love and support.

My Best Friend

This evening at 9:01 pm we will initiate comfort care (which removes any artificial life support). They will keep Gary comfortable, he will have no pain. He will drift off to sleep and meet his maker.
He received communion and a priest came and gave him his last rites. All of us prayed together, around him and everyone feels his spirit above us. We ALL are VERY saddened to loose Gary. He was my best friend. Gary was my soul mate, my life partner. We made so many wonderful memories together, that I will hold close to my heart forever and ever. I love him with all my heart and soul. As I know all of you that he touched do too.
Please keep him in your thoughts this evening as drifts to sleep.
Thank all of you for all your loving support, prayers and well wishes.
Morissa and Gary's Family

Day 5

Wednesday was a hard day.....as was Tuesday evening. Gary is not showing many signs of improvements. His vitals are good, blood pressure, heart rate and temperature, but he is having a hard time breathing due to accumulation of fluids in his lungs. They did an MRI last night after midnight and unfortunately is showed similar damage as the cat scan. Gary really hit his head hard.
All of you who have known Gary know that he loves life. The question is would he love it as much if he were incapacitated? Maybe some of you had discussions with him? touching on the subject of be incapacitated. It is a big decision.
Much love to all of you.
Morissa

pictures

Tuesday Evening

Hi everyone.....Gary is going into his 72 hour status and there have been changes but not necessarily for the good. Today was a difficult day but tomorrow starts anew.
Gary's mom and dad arrived last night and Bob stayed with Gary.
Gary's siblings are coming in from Ohio, Tennesse and Germany. It will be nice to have them all here by Gary's side wishing him well.
All your prayers and well wishes are very much appreciated. I have been reading the emails to him.
Thank you all.
Morissa

Tuesday Morning

Goodmorning....and thank all of you, you have been sending well wishes, prayers, inspirations and memories.

Gary is in the same condition as yesterday. No changes to report. He had a lot of visitors yesterday....and we may need to slow down on the stimuli.....for 2 reasons: we risk gary getting an infection from outside germs; and he needs rest. His brain has suffered an enormous shock. Time and God know what lies ahead.

I will post when anything significant happens.

Love adn Light for my Gary.

Morissa

How it happened

Hi everyone.....many of you are asking HOW it happened, was he on his bike etc.....So here I go.
Gary and I left on Thursday to attend a small wedding of a dear friend in Portland, OR. We were both on our bikes....we spent a night in Centralia, then a night in Portland and on Saturday we and on Sunday morning we were heading home on HWY 410.....this is a 2 lane highway on the back side of Mt Rainer. It was cold and we were wearing all our protective gear.
We were traveling behind a blue car and a white van....when the solid lane broke into a passing lane, Gary began to pass the blue car, and the blue car decided to pass the white van....both cars and Gary were in the left lane. He began to brake when he saw this happening infront of him. Gary hit the blue car, the van was pulling off on the left side of the road where there was a turn out.
The driver of the van was unisured and had a suspended liscence in the 3rd degree. He also had a blood alcohol level of .054 which is not intoxicated but attributed to his ignorance.
I hope this helps all of you to get a better idea of what happened....Just keep watching the BLOG and I will try to keep you informed as best I can.
With all my love to all of you.
Morissa

Gary's First 24 hours

Hello Everyone-

Gary is doing the best he can do for being into his first 24 hours of what has turned out to be a pretty bad brain injury. The doctors are continuing to monitor the swelling in the brain. It has gone down significantly. The main focus is to make sure the brain stem is still in tact and to see which parts of Gary's brain is damaged. Gary's progress is going to be slow and information is going to be slow coming, but I will keep you posted as information comes in.

My main focus is keeping strong for Gary and being as supportive as I can be. Our good friend, Karen Doty, will be taking calls for me and letting everyone know of Gary's progress. Karen's cell number is (206) 387-8056.

You can send e-mails for Gary at either this blog or by going to http://www.harborview.org/ you click on "email a patient" on the right side of the screen. Gary is in room #270.1

I appreciate all the love and concern you our sending our way, we definitely feel it.

Gary