I spent many hours with Gary when he had his shop in Southern California. When I was restoring my 1957 Chrysler 300 he helped me in repairing the left rear quarter panel and get it straight again before I painted the car with the help of another friend of mine. Gary of course did the interior and it still looks new and exudes a great leather smell. Gary also did some work on my 1962 300H leather bucket seat inserts. For awhile Gary was also overseeing the collection Yesterday Once More in Southern California which was a large building housing Richard Carpenter's extensive car collection and I also visited with Gary frequently when he took care of the collection. Even my dad and mom met with him at some car shows in Southern California and got to meet Richard and Karen Carpenter when they attended various shows and my mom became good friends with Karen's mother - it was a very sad day when Karen Carpenter passed away at a relatively early age.
Gary was an extremely giving guy, super nice and helpful always and he was really competent. He also did a set of seat covers for my 1958 Dodge Regal Lancer and a full set of interior door panels for it and more.
This world did not deserve anyone such as Gary who was just a super helpful guy, competent and full of initiative and friendly well beyond the norm. I kept in touch with him until near the end after he moved to Kalispell, MT and he was always the same guy with a positive spirit.
He will be missed a great deal and I am sure God will welcome him into eternity with gladness. Gary was an excellent example of how much better this world could be if more folks were just like him. R.I.P.