Died March 17, 2020
Gary Young could have a conversation with anyone.
"Anywhere we went, he would talk to anybody," his daughter, Stacey Silva, said.
He loved to make people laugh, too, often cracking jokes.
For months, Gary had a sore throat, headaches and cough before he was diagnosed with the coronavirus. The last time Stacey saw her father awake, it was through glass at a hospital. "We waved at each other and we did the ‘I love you’ sign to each other. … Dad used to do that to us all the time," she said. Stacey said she’s received many messages from people in her community, from those who knew him from the Lowe’s where he worked, to waiters at restaurants he frequented.
“There are people that are kind of like hidden staples in our busy worlds that we just assume will always just be there, whom we don’t think about until they are gone,” Ted Maciel, a Lowe’s customer, told Stacey after he learned of Gary’s passing.
“Your father was that for me. He was always friendly and pleasant to talk to,” he said. “A staple whom I will miss.”