Sunday, February 28, 2021
Gary was one of my most favorite people on the planet! What a Prince! He was always kind, generous, thoughtful and fun! I was in his explorer post for about 2.5 years, these are some of the best memories of my life. I was not real thrilled as a boy scout, but being an explorer with Gary was an absolute blast. I was fairly shy and he really helped to give me more confidence and bring me out of my shell. I Never saw him mad - always laughing and joking and telling great stories. We would do a week long canoe trip every summer from forked lake to middle saranac. We would train for it and then pretty much when school was out for summer we would head off on our adventure. We camped in tents and lean tos', had camp fires, did portages and dodged some bears - just great fun. I remember one time my canoe mate tipped our canoe over as we got to long lake - a bunch of my stuff got wet and Gary stopped in the town of long lake and bought me a sweatshirt to keep warm - what a kind gesture. We would spend several days at middle saranac and he would bring his boat in for water skiing and such and we also climbed ampersand mountain - it was a great trek. We would go snowmobiling in the winter and that was great fun as well. I remember we went to a place he had in Naples and would snowmobile for a weekend here and there - think I remember there was some sort of issue with a coal stove and some possibility of coal gas, but he made sure everyone was safe. He and his family lived just down the road from us, so we knew him as a neighbor as well. I remember he worked at birdseye and they had this great fluffy cheesecake in a box that he would drop off from time to time. I got in trouble with my wife in the early days when she made a real cheesecake and I asked her why it was not nice and fluffy like the ones Gary brought us. I will never live that down and I like real cheesecake now. I am sure he will be missed by many in the world. But take solace in knowing what a great man he was and how he positively impacted so many lives! Our prayers are with you all. Chris Plail
