We are here to remember and honor Gary, but there are some funny things as well. There are some things you may not have known about Gary.

When he was a teen, it wasn’t unlike him to change out the rear end of his car from short gears to long gears over a weekend. You auto techs will know what I mean. His first job was planting for a Norwegian Ben VanderWeele and trying to keep up with him (stuff grew fast in Alaska) and he found that out quickly and why his boss only planted so many rows at a time.

He enjoyed speed, getting too many tickets because he loved to go fast. In fact, I was working at Tastee Freeze 4 corners in Alaska between Palmer and Wasilla, and he did about 140 mph to come out and get a special banana shake made by muah. An officer saw him leaving town (couldn’t miss him, he had a candy apple orange barracuda with moon hubcaps). The officer never caught him, but went flying past Tastee Freeze and caught the car out of his peripheral vision and came to a screeching stop, flipped a ue, came back and asked who the owner was. Gary said he was and he said “Son, I saw you crest the first hill and I didn’t see you again and I couldn't catch you. I would give you a ticket but I was in such a hurry, I left my book at the station.”

He spent some time in Juvie for I believe being a minor in possession of alcohol. He told his mom he had everything he needed, co-ed dances on Friday nights and a pool table (needless to say that conversation didn’t go over well).

We married in 1976 and our honeymoon was on the Kenai Canoe Trails (giving our car keys to a complete stranger who took it back to where we’d end up). Gary carried the cargo canoe, paddles, nest of pans and I had the backpack.

Kevin was born in 1980 and was a just shy of a month old when St. Helen's, blew it's top. Having a child was a steep learning curve. But we stepped into the roll.

We rode motorcycles from Palmer to Beaver Creek Canada, then ferried to Tacoma WA in 1982 (myself, Gary and one of his best friends Barry). He loved camping, motorcycling (especially the curves), downhill skiing (for him it was the tuck position and as fast as he could go straight down). His 4-5 runs to my one (zigzagging all the way down).

Gary was working in the automotive field right out of high school. He pestered and pestered his very first “real” boss who gave in and hired him (seeing his persistence). He is actually here today. He started as a lot boy washing and moving cars. But when he done, he was standing by the techs watching and learning and helping if they’d let him. By 1984, we opened our own automotive shop in Anchorage working on AMCs and Jeeps though we took in other stuff. Gary had such a good reputation that we had customers driving from Homer to have their vehicle worked on. I think we had 6 bays and some really good techs. Unfortunately, the timing was rough as oil dropped through the bottom and people were leaving Alaska in droves. We went through a corporate bankruptcy losing everything including our home, his dad’s home and our rental property rented by our GM who was also our Parts Manager.. What doesn’t kill, you makes you stronger I guess…that bankruptcy stayed with for 13 years. It caused us to move to the Lower 48 and start over, where we ended up in Bend moving from Gresham.

He helped take two Boy Scout troops back to the National Jamboree. And while involved in Scouting, he took our troop camping 3 out of 4 weekends a month, the boys loved him as he was so knowledgeable in outdoor things.

He and a partner (that he worked for Ray, who was unable to be here due to health issues) tried to patent rights to a tool Gary built (apparently, his brother Dave was already using one that he had built). It was featured in several automotive magazines (he called it the SkyCreeper). They wouldn’t patent it saying anyone could build it. It was during our time in Bend and when he was working at Autosport with Ray, that he had an aneurysm in his brain that everyone said (13 specialists) should have taken him out. He survived it (1990).

It was 35 years before he told me he didn’t like lettuce on his sandwiches and about the same amount of years before he started giving me yellow roses instead of red. He was dubbed Scrat (from IceAge) as the squirrel that was always going for the nut (the North Coast YCF youth dubbed him that) and it carried to Camp Tillamook. The union dubbed him “the Bulldog.” He stood his ground on issues against the top brass, but as a union steward, he would always try to solve issues at the lowest level. Now when he accepted Christ he had a humility he hadn’t had before and called his time with Camp Tillamook more like a ministry and he basically stepped out of the union because his values had changed vastly from the union. If the youth asked questions about faith, about love, about anything, he could answer. He just couldn’t share his faith unless they asked. He loved his last job with OYA which was being the PbS Coordinator as a Policy Analyst II, but he also started the Geek Squad teaching interested youth how to repair computers, write code, install software and hardware. He was so good with the youth. In the early days, when he was a GLC II at Camp Tillamook, he would take youth to this church, any outing turned into a lesson. He loved his job and it was a tough day when he was forced to retire because of his illness.

He was always willing to help others and as a side ran Westoby Works building computers, repairing computers, etc. and for a while did this with his son Kevin. They were loved in Tillamook. We both were the techies at Camp Tillamook and Tillamook YCF. He was always willing to help.

Up to the point he could no longer get his thoughts out, he would always say to those at the grocery store, doctor’s office, restaurants “blessings to you and your families.” He would still try to say this and I would know, so I let whoever he was trying to say it to know and Gary would shake his head yes. He had a sense of humor and his work ethic was top notch always giving 110% to everything he did.

Before he came to Christ, someone gave me the book “Beloved Unbeliever” which basically told me to shut my mouth and treat him as if he was saved by my actions. One of the best books I ever read. He told me one day as he was on his motorcycle, that he had lunch at Lins Restaurant in Tillamook and two guys came riding up on two bikes. They had mohawks on their helmets. He ended up inviting them to eat with him and he soon found out that they were a couple. That didn’t dissuade him from praying for their meal. I wished I would have been a fly on the wall.

He was saved at a Tillamook Christian Center Men’s retreat in 2008 at a Third Day concert in Bend. The concert was put together by the Tillamook Men for Christ group (which Gary was also involved) I wanted to tell the world (but I knew he was supposed to do that), I begged him to let me just tell my best friends Patty and Zack Davis, which he caved and let me share. He was all about his job, but eventually helped me with techie stuff for Tillamook Aglow and did a lot for the Tillamook Christian Center including the books (as there was no one stepping up) and was on the board.

While in Tillamook, we decided that it was time to think about an RV so that we could ready it for traveling full-time. So we did in 2016 and on October 1 of that year, we had it moved to the Tillamook RV Park by Stumpy aka Mike at Tillamook RV Service right next door. We got it parked, really saved a lot of money and we were loving it. We had some issues with it, they got handled and we only had a Prius at that time but it was working. In 2019, we drove to Idaho and purchased a 2019 Ram 3500 Dually so that we could pull the Behemoth, the Ram affectionately known as Rosie the Riveter.

Well, 2020 saw the virus and I retired on January 1, 2021, little did I know our lives were going to change that year drastically. As you know, Gary had faith to believe he would be healed from this devastating disease. In my heart, I knew he’d be healed if the Lord took him home so either way. We believed, others believed, we prayed, we sought prayer. In 2021, the Lord told me to “stay put.” We were in Tillamook. Gary confirmed he got the same message, so we did. Gary ended up retiring due to this disease on August 20, 2021 taking the last working days as vacation so he wouldn’t lose it. We stayed put in Tillamook. This was where things really got real. Gary was turning left off Hwy 101 and saw the opening but didn’t see the car in his blind spot (I saw it). We were broadsided in the Prius which was totalled and jaws of life had to get me out. Gary was okay, I had two broken ribs. Gary surrendered his keys that day. The following year, knowing that Gary could no longer help me hook up the Behemoth (I was the only one to pull it and park it and that was going to be the plan). I decided since it was our home, the only thing we could do was go to a smaller rig which we did. I hated giving Rosie up and the Behemoth. It was the only option we had.

We decided to leave Tillamook in September and drive to see his brother in Bend for a couple of weeks and our plan was to head to AZ. Things happened (some pretty gnarly hallucinations and delusions because of LBD, and our only option was stay in the Central Oregon area finding a home to purchase. That is what we did (rather I did as Gary could no longer make decisions or even sign his name). So we are in La Pine. But while we stayed with his brother for 2.5 months, we found a church we fell in love with called Epikos. They prayed and prayed for us, for Gary. God has the final say. We may not understand His timing or His ways, but they are perfect. He prepared me for this time, He put us near neighbors that reached out and put us in a loving community that has helped us in so many ways.

God has a plan for every life here, a purpose and He loves you with a love that really is unmatched by anything else we know. He lived a sinless life, He showed us how to live, He was crucified by us (basically), went to hell and the grave and took every single sin, every single disease upon his body so that we might be free and so that we might avoid hell and be with Him. If you wonder who you are, why you are here, I can tell you, you are are here to have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe, the Great I Am, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He wants that, he doesn’t want religion, he wants you to get to know Him, to trust Him, to abide in Him. He knows our very heart, our very thoughts and actions. Acknowledge Him today, repent of your sins and ask Him to be your Savior. He is the only One who kept Gary and I going through this this trial (all the trials we’ve had). It wasn’t perfect, it was messy, but He was in our mess. During this time, He gave Gary so much grace and mercy because He knew Gary would extend it to me his caregiver, his wife that he sometimes knew and sometimes didn’t. I would bawl into Gary’s chest and say so many times I am so sorry for being frustrated with you, I know it’s not you, it’s stupid Lewy. Gary would say “It’s okay, you are doing good.” That may be the most coherent sentence out of him all week or “I love you.” And if he added Deb to the end of that, that was the just the best to hear. Please hear me, there are only two places in the afterlife. It is heaven or hell. I want to see you in heaven and I know Gary wants to see you too. For those that think there’s no way God would take them because you feel you are too far gone, you are wrong! He’s just waiting for you to say “God forgive me, help me, I need you, I repent for all the things I’ve done, I’ve said or I’ve thought. I know I need a Savior because nothing I’ve done has worked. Help me Lord!”

I think Gary’s classmates from high-school would say you’ve got to be kidding, Westoby’s a Christian?” Gary did drugs, he drank, he caroused and I was no angel even in our marriage, but I won’t go into that here. Some of you know our story. You are not at all out of God’s reach, but you need to take that first step. If He’s drawing you, there are people here that will pray with you to receive the salvation of the Lord. When you do so, the angels in heaven will rejoice! I know you are here because you knew, loved or respected Gary a great deal and maybe just maybe he touch your life.