One day we'll all walk out into eternity whether prepared or not. All that remains are a few possessions, photos, memories and stories of days gone by. To Gary's family I would like to pass along a story that you may know the man that I knew and worked with. I realize your sorrow and sense of loss is very heavy now and these words may offer little in the way of comfort. This hopefully may be some help to you in a future day. Back in about May of 1997 our supervisor called a group of five or six to a "right now" meeting at 209 Broad St. (Now Leon Sullivan Way) in Charleston. The Federal Communications Comission had been conducting testing in the Kanawha Valley. The tests were conducted to determine whether a cable system was "leaking it's signal into the airways" The channels used in a cable system are in some cases the same as channels used for over the air communications; aircraft, boats, emergency communications, police, FM radio stations, TV Stations and citizens band radio are a few. The newly acquired CATV system in Montgomery had been added to the newer cable network feed out of Charleston. The FCC survey of Montgomery revealed the signal escaping from the cable television system in that area was at a level far above an acceptable level. Our supervisor said the FCC issued an order to turn the system off from Montgomery to Gauley Bridge. A thousand or more customers would be without service until the leakage problem was resolved. I asked the supervisor if we were going to turn the system off. He said "No". I vividly remember thinking, well, we're all be in jail by tomorrow afternoon. Ignore an order from the Federal Government. I have hunted without a license, caught trout way over the limit, broke the speed limit, trespassed, skipped school but this is my very first federal offense. Maybe I could slip out the back and hide until they all leave. Truth is that I became very nervous about the situation. I looked at Gary and he never changed his expression. I hadn't known him for long and was impressed by the way he reacted, no sign of being upset at all. Gary smiled and asked what did he want us to do. The supervisor said to go in teams of two and find the worst spots and get the system fixed. Gary and I went together with the other men and began working. To my surprise we were successful and in about six hours found and repaired the worst problems. I kept thinking throughout the day about what the supervisor was going to tell the FCC. I stayed out of Charleston for the next few days until I felt the coast was clear. We continued to work on the problems that week and to this day I don't know what went on with the FCC. My take on the whole matter was the way Gary took the lead never seemed to be the least bit upset or nervous. In all the 17 years he always seemed on an even keel. I found that slightly remarkable. I leaned on him a lot during the time we worked together. I'd like to think that he and I complemented each other even though our personalities were vastly different. We didn't agree at times and I was always quick to say out loud what I was thinking. Sometimes I would feel the need to apologize, Gary would always say, "No problem" and we would go on from there. To his family, be very proud of your husband, father and grandfather. Never stop loving, remembering and telling his stories.