We wanted to add a couple of stories about Gar Bear -don't know why I started calling him that, but I did and it comes natural now. When he got off the plane, I didn't look up to see his face at first. I told Keith - hey look at that guys shirt, it has a tie printed on it, cool. He looked up and said THAT'S GARY! Gary said that since he was flying first class he thought he might as well wear a tie.
I also started calling him the "turtle whisperer." We went up to Fleming beach one day and he found a family of Honu (turtles) at the end of the crescent-shaped bay there. He was in the water nose-to-nose with them for an hour or so and loved it. We stopped in Napili on the way up, at Mama's Rotisserie, the best chicken on Maui. He ordered a whole chicken and sucked the bones clean. It was so nice to see him eating like Gary could again.
We took a day trip to Hana and stopped at the Piilani Heiau, an ancient Hawaiian Ceremonial structure made out of terraced lava rock. The Piilani Heiau is the largest in the state and dates to 1200 A.D. He has a photo in the photo book I put together for him, from the Heiau where he is holding a coconut up next to his head to see which is bigger - it was a toss up. He enjoyed seeing the Heiau and exploring the gardens too. By the time we hit the "seven sacred pools" - (there are really 24 and they are not sacred) and headed back, his feet were bothering him so he laid down across the back seat and hung them out the window. We got a few looks from passers by on the way back, how funny!
One night after Keith had to go back to work, Gar Bear and I met for dinner. He was debating about something on the menu and I told him to just order it! He said it probably wasn't the healthiest thing on the menu. I said " So what- it's going to give you cancer or something"? He looked at me, surprised for a second and then I saw his eyes twinkle and a big smile spread across his face. Guess he saw the humor in it because he said " yeah- what the heck, I think I'll order two," and busted out with his humongous big laugh - so loud that everyone in the restaurant looked to see what was so funny - a lil medical humor.
On his last night here we went to Cool Cats - ono (good) burgers. He ordered the Bonanza Burger - the size of a football - AND a basket of fries and rings AND a milk shake AND chased it all with a huge brownie dessert.
Chris, the waiter, couldn't believe it. I was glad to hear from Karen that he put on six pounds while he was here. Of course the bucket of mangos from our trees didn't hurt either.
Gar Bear came to help us hang rock in the lil Pioneer house along with my brother-in-law Charlie who did it for a living at the time. Gary picked up a piece, held it up to the ceiling and told Charlie to screw it. Charlie, we call him “Chuckles”, said “Really? Wow, I could use you on my crew!”
Keith remembers Gary on a job in Bellevue, walking across a bridge on N.E. 8th carrying a full acetylene tank when he came up behind Barry Ward, a co-worker, who was carrying a full Oxygen tank. SO he grabbed him around the waist and picked them both up and carried them the rest of the way across the bridge, laughing all the way.
Gary had such a strong work ethic that once when he had walking pneumonia, he refused to take the day off until he keeled over into the ditch he was laying pipe in and passed out. When he came to, he conceded that maybe he should take the rest of the day off. This incident could have been a clue about how he would handle his battle with cancer too.
One time Gary decided to take out his concrete driveway to replace it, so he grabbed a double jack, (20lb sledge hammer), and proceeded to pulverize it and haul it away with a wheel barrow. If anyone ever needed help, Gary was the first to volunteer but would never ask for help for himself.
We just wanted to share those few stories with everyone, and look forward to hearing from everyone else. Love to all, Keith and Penny
