Obituary of Gary Gene Windust

Gary Gene Windust April 2, 1949 – July 17, 2008 Gary left us on July 17, 2008 to be with his father and mother. Gary is either building something with wood, cutting wood, fishing with his dad or cooking, these are the things he loved to do. We are sad at his passing and at the same time very happy that Gary is free. He will be remembered for his caring and giving nature and for his forever love of his daughter. He was the best Dad ever! Kelsey will miss him very much, beyond words. Gary was proceeded in death by his father Sam Howard Windust and his mother Christene Lousie Windust. He is survived by his daughter Kelsey; step-mother Barbara Windust; sisters, Caren Lonzo and Phillis Windust; nephews, David and Matt Stroup; his best friends, Robin Thompson and Ann Mosqueda; along with many extended family and friends and his dog Lacey. (she is pinging around the house as usual) Gary was a graduate of North Thurston High School, class of 1967, excelled in wrestling which he was very proud of. He also attended the University of Washington in the study of engineering. Gary had many talents, among them where his desire in drawing and engineering anything and everything asked of him, woodworking, building and cooking good food. As many of you know he was a perfectionist when it came to his work and family ethics. He not only did his job well with the City of Lacey for 20 plus years but he also stepped up to the mark and provided help with numerous special projects that spanned out all over the City of Lacey, including the Police Department. He was an outstanding public servant, loved his job and so enjoyed and loved his co-workers. His family will forever remember him for his boisterous personality, loving nature and his persistence in life that will keep us all going strong. A service for Gary is planned for Saturday, August 2, 2008, 1:00 p.m. at the Masonic Center, 455 North Street SE., Tumwater WA 98501, access is off of Cleveland Ave. This is a celebration of Gary’s life and as he would say, “it’s a POTLUCK, bring your favorite dish”. His Spaghetti sauce will be on the premises! In lieu of flowers, Gary would be honored to have donations made in Kelsey’s name to be used for her college education received at the service or at South Sound Bank in Lacey or Olympia Washington. If you were not able to be at the service, here is the Eulogy given by Robin Thompson: Good Afternoon, What a great way and a great day to pay homage to our wonderful friend, Kelsey’s Daddy, Gary Windust. There wasn’t much Gary liked better than having his friends and family around! But, we’re not in his backyard throwing horseshoes and eating barbecue, we’re here rather to remember those times and so many others as we think about Gary. So let your mind wander just a bit, and think back on those many opportunities we each had to call him and say “I need some help”, and to work with him on such a varied list of things, it didn’t matter what, he had so many skills. Raise your hand up if you’re living in a house whose plans he drew up for you, or you’re a city of Lacey employee who did some special project with him, or he built a pump house for you, designed some T-shirts with you, or he built you a deck. Maybe he called you up out of the blue to come share a delicious meal he made, or you were on a Super-Bowl Board he drew up -that I never won on so some of you guys must have! Maybe he fixed your faucet, he rototilled your garden, or he made a genealogy diagram for your very last class that you needed to pass to get your Master’s degree- on the day before it was due- taking your entire family back four generations? I see lots of hands, lots of hands, in the air. Commander Suessman couldn’t be here today, but you’ll see his fine words out with the other memorabilia gathered. It is sure enough that his arm would be raised right now. Look around, Doll, these are people for whom your Daddy will always be alive; he left his legacy over a wide swath of folks and they all loved him and you. They’ll be there to remember with, they’ll share a smile and a tear with you on many a given day. Keep letting your mind wander, Gary’s best friend “Rico” Rick Mosqueda isn’t here with us today; we lost him last year after a many years battle with multiple cancers. So, imagine a beautiful sunny day, some unnamed cold beverage at hand, his dog Gizmo running about, a picnic table, a crib board and those two galoots going at it, pegging points and laughing, looking down with big smiles for all of us from the heavens above. Both of them, pain free, no more worries, no shortness of breath, no aches and troubles, the full sun of the Glory of God shining upon their heads. In Gary’s case, he would be proud to say, “God made few perfect heads, and those he made were bald”. Play in peace, you two, best of friends, reunited for eternity. Thirty years ago, leaning on the bar at Casey’s tavern, Rainer stubby in hand, cue stick aside me, I was the new girl on the block. I graduated from, as Gary would say, Nort Nurton, but several years after him. I had come back to town, with my almost 3 year old in tow- hard to believe but Tyler is 33 now. Anyway, I made friends with Gary that very day. What a great and propitious day that turned out to be. We’ve been best of friends since …well, if you are like me, he could be a stubborn son-of-a gun and we had about a four-month quiet spell in our relationship over those 30 years. Maybe some of you have been on the other end of an unhappy Gary? Not a fun place, what could be so obviously simple and right in your eyes he looked at it completely from the other side and he, too, thought he was so obviously right…but that’s the wonderment of remembering and a good argument. Robert C. Savage said “You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him”. By those words, Gary was one powerful guy because he could be right until the cows came home…and everyone else had left. Once I gave him a jar of dill pickles I had canned, he having grown the cukes. Didn’t he have the most prolific garden back in those days? It was just the best! Anyway, I left this jar of pickles and a note on his doorstep saying how we’d always be best of friends and I loved him. At the time he wanted to ruin our perfectly good friendship with other business. The next morning that same jar of pickles appeared on my porch with a note to keep “my sour ol pickles to my sour ol self”. But there were other gardens, and many jars of dilly beans and cherry pies and apple cobblers to follow. What a guy, what a guy. There is an old Arabian proverb I’ve had hanging on my wall for many many years. I think of Gary when I read it: A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness Blow the rest away. Didn’t matter when or what, I could – as I know many of could- call Gary and just talk. He’d listen, throw his valuable two cents in and whether you resolved your difficulty or dilemma or not, when you hung up, you always felt better. Then the onset of email entered the equation and how many telephone calls came alerting us he was going to send this goofus joke with a follow-up call on how did we like it. He was on the forefront of computer technology and I think he kept the city of Lacey and many of the homes of Olympia and Lacey running while we all tried to catch up to this new fangled stuff. Seems funny now to talk about it being “new” but there was a time it was and Gary was the local computer guru for many of us. Then Gary & Vicki married, soon to follow came Kelsey. Rico and Ann were chosen by them to be their beloved daughters Godparents. Another oh so special relationship. When Kelsey came into the world, WOW, what a Daddy. Proud of his little peanut, his doll face, his cheaky-beak. Whether he was fixing podiums in her classrooms or building her the biggest dollhouse the county ever saw, there was so much love in his eyes. He truly was a contented man when he became a father and it brought out all of the very best in him. He never cared that you would toddle around the garden pulling up the carrots fast as they popped out of the ground. How proud of him you must be, Kelsey, sweetheart--but you’ll struggle to measure up to how proud he was of you! Vicki, dear friend, I can’t let this moment go by without saying how remarkably you guys mutually raised your wonderful daughter. Whether she was at Gary’s, she called her Mommy to say nighty-night and if she was with you, she called her Daddy to say the same. Many many people could learn lessons from you guys on how to remain totally committed, mutually driven loving parents who always thought of their child first. As the years passed, Gary’s health declined, he couldn’t quite keep up anymore and those backyard parties slowed down, heck, we all slowed down. The ravages of medications to treat his ailments began to take its toll and our beloved Gary started to fail. He fought back lots of times, hard and with gumption. He rallied time and time again. But as we all will, we give you up to God’s glory for if ever there was the handy man of all handy men needed in the heavens above, you’ve just received him. And, he’ll help; you won’t even have to ask, dear Lord, he’ll be ready to serve. Free from pain, skills intact, tool belt on, ready to go. Albert Schweitzer once said: “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us”. So, please, from your seat or up here, come share that memory, that light that rekindles Gary for you as a gift for each of us and most especially for Kelsey Ann. We want to remember those smiling eyes of that very special father, brother, son, husband and friend that we all knew. God speed and good rest dear friend, you are loved beyond measure and time. Robin Thompson August 2, 2008