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Gary A. Gasaway

February 3, 1938–July 9, 2021

Gary A. Gasaway, retired Columbia County Engineer, passed away at the Parkview Memory Care in Walla Walla on Friday, July 9, 2021. He was 83.

Gary was born in Dayton, Wash., to Alvis and Fern (Parsons) Gasaway on February 3, 1938. He was the oldest of three children who grew up in Dayton and later in Hermiston, Ore., where Gary graduated from high school in 1956. He attended Oregon State University in Corvallis where he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering. Gary later took and passed his civil engineering boards.

While at college, he met and married Sheila Spence. They lived for a time in John Day, Ore., and Salem, Ore., and raised two girls, Diane and Valerie, in Dayton. The family enjoyed day trips hunting for mushrooms or picking huckleberries. Gary and Sheila divorced in 1982.

The kids always spent summers on their grandparent's ranch near Dayton where he had learned a solid work ethic.

He met Kaye Burk and the two have been close companions for more than thirty years. They enjoyed spending time outdoors whether gathering firewood or looking for mushrooms, they simply liked being together.

Gary worked as the civil engineer for Columbia County for nearly 30 years.

-Submitted photo

Gary A. Gasaway

He was an active member of the Eagles Lodge and the Jaycee's. He was also one of the founders of the Eagle's Roost Moto-Cross.

Gary was preceded in death by a sister, Karma Bruton in January this year and by his parents.

He is survived by Kaye at their Dayton home; his two daughters, Diane (Mike Walsh) Gasaway of Olympia and Valerie (Dean) Moran of Walla Walla; his only grandchild, Liam Walsh, and by his brother David Gasaway of Middleton, Idaho.

A Memorial Service is planned in the chapel of the Hubbard-Rogg Funeral Home in Dayton on Saturday, August 21 at 11 a.m. Pastor Greg Brownell will officiate.

Hubbard-Rogg Funeral Home of Dayton is assisting the family with arrangements.