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| Name: |
| Gary Lee Didier |
| Date: |
| December 12th, 1957 - December 10th, 2008 |
| Obituary: |
| Gary Lee Didier, age 50 of Columbus died Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at Ohio State University Hospital. Preceded in death by father, Merle Eugene Didier, and grandparents, Jay & Edith Hartshorn and Reason Didier & Fern Haller. He is survived by wife, Caitlin Didier; children, Christopher & Shannon Didier of Wichita, KS; mother, Karen (Phil) Herring, of Ainsworth, NE; sisters, Renae (Andrew) Glidden, of Ainsworth, NE & Lyn Reida, of Highlands Ranch, CO; father-in-law & mother-in-law, John & Linda Ridihalgh, of Columbus; brother-in-law, Robert (Kathleen) Ridihalgh, of Seattle, WA; aunts, uncles, nieces & nephews. Gary was a founder of Easy Peasey Scooter Posse and member of Modern Vespa & Urbanscootin. A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, December 13, 2008 at RUTHERFORD FUNERAL HOME, 2383 North High Street, Columbus where friends may call from 6-8 p.m. Friday. The Rev. David O. McCoy, officiating. |
| Visitations: |
| 6:00PM to 8:00PM on Friday, December 12th, 2008 |
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| Services: |
| 11:00AM at Rutherford Funeral Home on Saturday, December 13th, 2008 (map/driving directions) |
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| Memorials: |
| Scooter Relief, 2509 Summit Street, Columbus, OH 43202 www.scooterrelief.org |
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From the funeral home's guestbook.
john and rob - December 11th, 2008 at 9:01am - Email
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| Words will never be enough to express our extreme sadness of hearing of this news. Gary was one of the best and all around coolest guys we have had the pleasure of knowing. His love for Cailin is one for us all to respect and strive for. His love for his children and family was evident in his smile as he spoke of them. May God wrap them all in arms of strength. We will miss his cheerfull face and the world is not as good without him here, but we will live forward with his spirit guiding us. After all he would not want us to do otherwise. Peace and Love to his family and remember his love for you all. |
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| Tom Jaszewski - December 11th, 2008 at 3:37pm - Email |
| You'll be missed by all you touched... |
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| Julie Hoch Iacobelli - December 11th, 2008 at 4:42pm - Email |
| Caitlin, Pleas accept my sincerely condolences on the loss of Gary. He and I reconnected through classmates.com just a week before his passing. Gary was one of my favorite classmates. He was always so much fun...a true lover of life. He spoke so lovingly of you in his email to me. I know you two were soulmates and everyone should experience that in their lifetime. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Julie |
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| David Spier - December 11th, 2008 at 5:20pm - Email |
| My condolences to Gary's family and friends from a high school classmate. |
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| Teri Jo Mauch - December 12th, 2008 at 2:34pm - Email |
| I am so sorry. Gary was a good friend in high school, and I loved reading his letter to the class at our last reunion. My thoughts are with you. Fondly, Teri |
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| Kerri Lawrence - December 13th, 2008 at 12:18am - Email |
| Cadi~ I'm so very very sorry. You are in my thoughts and prayers. love, Kerri (Bridey's friend) |
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| Jean Carlson - December 13th, 2008 at 11:50am - Email |
| Catlin, Christopher, & Shannon, Gary was a classmate of mine in high school. I'm very sorry to hear of his passing. My thoughts & prayers are with you during this difficult time. Jean |
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15th Class Reunion at Julie's cabin. 1991
This is a picture of a plaque that is in the scooter store.
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This is the view from the back side of Gary's marker in Mount Hope at Springview, NE. The Didier family plot is located in the extreme northeast corner of the cemetery. Petrified wood found by his sister, Renae, and brother-in-law, Andy, is part of this very unique marker. I touched the stone and it was extremely smooth. I asked Andy if they sandblasted the petrified wood to make it so smooth. Andy told me that is how it was when they found it.
A memorial to Gary is located in the yard on the family acreage in Nebraska. The landscaping on this yard is second to none that I have ever seen. It is a very peaceful and restful place.
A close-up picture showing the plaque by the tree that was planted in the center of this memorial. I believe it is a red maple.
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To make this pamphlet easier to read, on the lower right hand corner of the computer screen in internet explorer, you can click on the plus sign by 100% to make the page bigger than 100%.
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David S
I regret not keeping more current with RCHS classmates. I hope some things are shared here about Gary that may function as a bit of a memorial. I plan on posting some pictures and information mostly obtained from his website. The address is http://epsp.us/index.php. Some of the threads with information are http://epsp.us/viewtopic.phpt" target="_blank">http://epsp.us/viewtopic.phpt=1194&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 , http://epsp.us/viewtopic.phpt=1191&start=0 . There are several threads talking about Gary. Lots of pictures and comments on this website that Gary started for fellow scooter enthusiasts. There are also some details of what went on. I ordered a couple of Gary patches so I can place one on my vest. "No Dues, No Meetings, No Crybabies" is in the heading of his website. I like that.
I guess a friend found Gary on December 5th in the new shop that Gary and Caitlin were planning to open in Columbus. It sounds like Gary and Caitlin had been working 16 hours a day to get the store ready for the grand opening. The friend administered CPR and Gary was taken to the hospital but it was not to be. I understand that Gary was able to help some others out by organ donation. His body was cremated and part of Gary's ashes are back in Nebraska. Contrary to what it says on the KBRB radio webpage, no memorial services are planned in Nebraska as far as I know. Gary made the urn that contain his Father's ashes. I believe Gary's ashes will rest by his Father's ashes in the Mount Hope Cemetery on the north edge of Springview, NE. I think the Didier memorial stone marker is in the northeast part of this cemetery and you can read the Didier name from the highway. I will stop here someday and pay my respects.
Thought I would share a few comments to me from Gary's Mom, Karen Herring.
From an e-mail December 11, 2008 - I had so hoped his old school friends could know how he was enjoying life in his later years and since you will be able to share this with Greg and others it eases my mind. It is unbelievable he is not with us anymore except with the memories. God Bless us all. Karen
From an e-mail - Your update on yourself and comments of Gary are certainly appreciated. Happy New Year! One of Gary's favorite sayings was "Things will work out, they always do" I'm going to hold him to that. Karen
From a letter - If you have been back to the site read the Capitol City Scooters opening for pictures of the store & comments. Gary would have been proud to see the finished store. His son, Chris, age 28 & single, has moved to Columbus to help Caitlen fulfill the dream of opening their own store.
Gary's love of motorcycles never left him, he just switched it to scooters. His current scooter, a Vespa, was a limited edition only 1000 were made. As you have read he had made so many new friends & had so much fun with their scooters. He did live life to the fullest. As far as we know he had no symptoms of his heart attack.
We will miss Gary so much, he was a beam of light in our lives & will treasure our memories. God Bless. Karen & Phil.
I hope to join our classmates in lifting a glass to Gary at our next reunion. But for now -
To Good Friends
To Fond Memories
Savor the Past
Enjoy the Here and Now
To You, Gary
Cheers and Godspeed, Our Good Friend!
David S
My post on the easypeasy website made on December 11, 2008 which is the day I heard.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I learned the news this morning on an urbanscooter webpage that was e-mailed to me. I have no words to describe the pictures and posts I have seen here. Thank you for allowing me to share the words I wrote about Gary this morning on urbanscooter site. Copy and paste follows.
Please excuse the long handle, I had a little trouble registering.
I had the pleasure of personally knowing Gary. We were classmates at Rock County High School in Bassett, Nebraska for 3 years and graduated together in 1976. While Gary did not have the size to play football, I remember he ran cross country in the fall with my younger brother.
I feel a special kinship with Gary as much as with any classmember from my two high schools or even college fraternity. As I remember, Gary moved to the Bassett area a year or more before we did. We moved there in the summer of 1973 from Chamberlain, SD and Gary and his parents and two sisters moved there from Winner, SD. Winner is about 60 miles north and west of Bassett and Winner is about 60 miles south and west of Chamberlain.
Gary and I lived on neighboring ranches and our homes were about 5 miles apart. Gary lived about 15 miles from town with the last mile or two being a private sandy road down a canyon on the Niobrara River bottom.
The first time I remember seeing Gary, he and his sister rode their motorcycles past our house our first summer there in 1973. I believe the motorcycles were Yamaha 100s or even smaller. Their Dad, Merle, was a motorcycle rider also. He had a big Harley fully dressed in 1973.
I bought my first motorcycle in the summer of 1974. I rode with the Didier family to Winner, SD and had Sunday dinner with his maternal Grandparents. Then Merle showed me a 1970 Yamaha AT1B 125 cc for $300 that I purchased from someone that Merle knew. It was a good bike. I put 10,000 miles on that bike driving mainly country roads over the next 3 years. I give the Didier family credit for helping me get started in motorcycling. I currently ride a GoldWing and have attended Sturgis every year since 1995 which is 14 years. I know I owe part of my motorcyle enjoyment to the Didiers.
I remember a trip Gary, Greg, and I made to Norfolk, NE (I talked with Greg this morning in Bloomington, Ill) to check out the local tech school. Gary and Greg eventually attended college at Kearney State in Kearney, NE as I recall and I went to UNL. We stayed with some 1975 graduates in Norfolk that night. We toured the Norfolk Tech campus the next day and ate lunch. During lunch, one of the tour guides informed us that there was a big snow coming and that if we wanted to get home which was 120 miles away to the town of Bassett that maybe we should get going. We started out and it started snowing quite heavily. We made it 60 miles to O'Neill, Ne. It was a storm that I have not seen for a while. Gary, Greg, and I were snowed in for 3 days and luckily stayed with a family in O'Neill that Greg's family knew.
I remember taking a few canoe trips on the Niobrara River from Valentine to Rocky Ford back before it attained Scenic River status and before a lot of people discovered or experienced the canoeing on this river. We usually made it a two day trip and camped overnight. Greg and Gary, as I recall, usually were canoe partners. Tom and I were in a canoe. Kent went and I can't recall right now who else went. (I remember Kent cooking bacon and eggs, I think it was the first time he cooked bacon and eggs.) These classmates of 1976 took our last canoe trip together a day or two before high school graduation.
While in high school, quite a few students had motorcycles. At that time many were two-stroke kaws as there was a kaw dealer in Ainsworth. Gary bought a 1976 (again as I remember) Yamaha four-stroke two cylinder for $1500 from the dealer in Winner. He rode this bike past our house on his way home from school. I rode my 125 through the canyon roads and had deer running all over. At the time, I did not worry or even think about ever hitting a deer. One evening, I don't know if it was daylight or dark, (again as I remember) Gary hit a deer with his 500cc Yamaha about a mile or so past our house. I think it knocked him out for a while, then he woke up and rode his bike the rest of the way to his house. I don't remember much about his motorcycle riding after that. However, there was an article in the Ainsworth paper a few years ago. I think Gary and his wife took delivery of two of these kinds of scooters that he likes now in Ainsworth and rode them back home to Kansas. I thought then that Gary did things that a lot of people would not do. It seems like he had a sense of adventure that is very rare.
Gary was in the musicals that the Rock County drama department put on. I can't find my high school annuals right now, but I know there is one picture in there of Gary and his high school girlfriend Sue sharing a kiss in a production.
The last time I remember seeing Gary was at our 15th high school reunion in 1991. The class had a get-together at Julie's famiy cabin in the Long Pine resort area at Long Pine, NE. This was my first class reunion and for some reason I was a bit apprehensive about seeing my classmates after so many years. I parked my pickup in the sandy parking lot a ways from the cabin. Walking down the hill to my vehicle to greet and welcome me and make me feel comfortable was, you guessed it, Gary Didier. I have attended every class reunion since on every 5th anniversary. I suppose I may have seen Gary at a reunion since, I don't know, but I do have an e-mail address that we put in my cell phone in 2006 as we tried to e-mail him a picture from our reunion get-together that night in 2006. I think Gary also had an interest in photography.
39 students graduated from Rock County High School that day back in 1976. I like to think I am friends with all of them to this day. I will say I consider Gary one of my closest high school friends (a lot of people could certainly say this about Gary) and I am grateful for our friendship and the times we shared. Gary is the first of our high school class to leave us. I hope someday we will understand things more, but maybe it makes sense to me that he would be the first one to explore what else is out there. In the future, it might be like back in 1991, one of the first friends to greet and welcome me is Gary. Wouldn't surprise me a bit.
Godspeed, my friend.
David S
On May 30, 2009, graveside services were held for Gary in Springview. Fellowship followed at the church in Ainsworth and afterwards at the family home by Ainsworth.David S
C.W. McCall Aurora Borealis lyrics (C.W. McCall, Bill Fries, Chip Davis) One night last summer we were camped at ten thousand feet up where the air is clear, high in the Rockies of Lost Lake, Colorado. And as the fire burned low and only a few glowing embers remained, we laid on our backs all warm in our sleeping bags and looked up at the stars. And as I felt myself falling into the vastness of the Universe, I thought about things, and places, and times. I thought about the time my grandma told me what to say when I saw the evening star. You know, Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight. The air is crystal-clear up here; that's why you can see a million stars. I remember a time a bunch of us were in a canyon of the Green River in Wyoming; it was a night like this. And we had our rafts pulled up on the bank an' turned over so we could sleep on 'em, and one of the guys from New York said, Hey! Look at the smog in the sky! Smog clear out here in the sticks! And somebody said, Hey, Joe, that's not smog; that's the Milky Way. Joe had never seen the Milky Way. And we saw the Northern Lights once, in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. They're like flames from some prehistoric campfire, leaping and dancing in the sky and changing colors. Red to gold, and blue to violet... Aurora Borealis. It's like the equinox, the changing of the seasons. Summer to fall, young to old, then to now. And then tomorrow... And then everyone was asleep, except me. And as I saw the morning star come up over the mountains, I realized that life is just a collection of memories. And memories are like starlight: they go on forever.David S
It has been two years since you have left us, my friend.
I know there are some special days soon ahead for those in your life with your daughter graduating from college and then becoming a bride. I can easily picture you handsome in your tux and beaming with pride as you give away the bride.
May your loved ones feel your presence as I know you will be beaming with love and pride as you look down upon them.