Gary was more than a son to me, he was a great friend, always ready to help me with anything that was wrong around the house. My car hasn't been to a mechanic for twenty years, Gary always took care of anything that was wrong with it, I hesitated to tell him about noises I heard in my car because he would insist on looking at it right then.
His mother and I will miss more than words can tell.
This tragedy that happened is still like a bad dream, but we will not wake up from it. Gary has had it bad this last year, but he's at peace now.
No one’s life truly ends with his death.
The lives of the deceased are completed in the imaginations and spirits of those who love them.
GARYS SALVATION
About thirty years ago Helen and I accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. Our children followed in salvation us one by one, we think Gary was the first one to get saved after us.
Gary always had a problem with how people perceived him, when he went to church if someone made a comment he didn’t like he would stop going for a while. As a result he didn’t go to church regularly. When he moved to Delaware he started to go to church more often, he started going to the First Baptist Church of Fredericka, he really liked Pastor Ingram and Don La Duc whom he was good friends with.
One Sunday morning he came to church in shorts [he saw nothing wrong with this] and a woman in the church commented “ we come to church in shorts now?” that was the last time Gary came to church regularly.
I asked him about his salvation and he told me he was sure he was saved, I told him that he doesn’t show it, he assured me he was saved. I tried to talk him out of his salvation but couldn’t. If good works could get us to heaven [we know they can't] Gary would go, he was always helping someone, but if he thought you were taking advantage of him he was done with you.
I feel that Gary was saved even he didn’t have the marks we look for in a saved person, only the LORD knows for sure who is saved and who is not.
No one expects to pass away at a young age, but it happens. You must prepare for this eventuality, take the time to open a bible and look up these verses.
1- John 3:7 - Ye must be born again, read from verse 3:1 to 3:21
2- Romans 3:23 - All have sinned and come short of the glory of God
3- Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
4- John 1:12 - But as many received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on his name
5- Revelation 3:20 - Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me
If you want any more help with this, E-Mail me with your questions at
jkenneyjr@yahoo.comGary We Appreciated You
When you have a bunch of kids you never know if you are raising them right, or how they feel about you.
Gary always thought very highly of me, Helen always told me how much Gary loved me. Gary and I went through a lot together. I remember one father’s day Gary gave me a shirt that had on the front “# 1 DAD” I wore it occasionally and didn’t think much about it till one day at work a woman I didn’t know looked at the shirt and asked if I was # 1 dad?, I said “I don’t think so” but I guess my son thinks so. That got me thinking about how I thought about my Dad and how my kids thought about me.
We are born self centered and selfish, we don’t appreciate our parents till we grow up. Some people take longer than others to grow up. Just as I would like to have my Mom and Dad here to tell them how much I appreciate them and love them, I would like to have Gary back to tell him much I appreciated and loved him for all the things he did for us. I know that isn’t possible so I’ll just keep on adding to this blog as I think of things about Gary.
We had five children all of them were different, we would miss any one of them as much as we do Gary. All of our children have been good to us, but Gary living so close to us meant that we spent a lot of time with him. It’s the way Gary died that is so hard to take, it was so unnecessary. If he had died in a car accident or a work related accident it would easier to get over his death. Gary had several serious accidents any one of them could easily have caused his death. But this incident was so preventable.
We never expected to lose Gary at this young age, every one expects their children to outlive them, but it doesn’t always happen that way, since this has happened so many people have told me of tragedies that happened in their families, so take care to appreciate your loved ones while you still have them. This tragedy isn’t over yet there’s more to come, it may take a few years, keep watching.
Garys First motorcycle, the first decent one.
