Billy, Lori and family:

Words cannot express how sorry we are for you. We had many good times with you on the river. I will NEVER forget the trip to Lyon’s Ferry in the rain ALL weekend long. We still had fun – NO MATTER WHAT.

Gary will be missed A LOT and we are praying for you now.

All our love…

Memories of Gary:

My main image of Gary will always be of him with a coffee mug in one hand and his cell phone in the other. We got such a kick out of Gary always answering his cell phone, no matter when or where. He had a particular ring tone for a long while – I’ll always think of him if I hear it. We loved it so much that one time he actually played it for the divers over their underwater communications system while they were working, just to get a good laugh. Doo-do-do

..Doo-do-do

His coffee mug was always with him. Actually that’s not quite true; he was perpetually putting it down and then forgetting where he’d left it. It was obvious how much it meant to him though because he was always searching for it. I was with him one day driving back from the Culvert Test Bed and he was drinking out of a different mug. I asked him about it and he said “Yeah – this one’s Lori’s. I lost mine somewhere

” Then he proceeded to make a few phone calls to likely places where he might have left it like to SAFE Boats Int’l, asking them to put it in the mail for him if they happened to find it!

Gary’s way wasn’t always the fastest way, but it was always the right way. He never skimped on time or materials – he found a way to get us the equipment we needed somehow, someway; he just didn’t encourage us to ask too many questions about where it came from. Without fail, he was always there to save the day when we couldn’t find any other way to make ends meet on a project. His stamp remains on many parts of the lab and always will.

Our poor MSL boats will never be treated so well again. No matter how hard we tried to wash them down, towel off the motors, and make them shine, we could always tell that Gary had gone back over everything again while we weren’t looking and done us one better. Something was always tweaked – the trailer would be parked a little bit straighter, the antenna would be tilted at just the perfect angle, or the bugs would be scraped off the radar dome.

We trusted Gary completely when it came to our dive operations. When boats and divers are involved together, great care must be taken to keep the bubbles in sight and not to run over the divers. Gary always kept the divers – not the mission – as the top priority and was always there with the boat to pick us up and ferry us to the next point if it was going to be a long swim. He helped work our communications gear and took notes when we needed and extra hand. When he was with us, he was one of the team and an integral part in making everything work the way it was supposed to.

Gary loved his dog, Sadie. She had selective hearing though, even with Gary. He brought her to work with him one day and she was running all over the parking lot – mostly away from him. “Sadie – come here

right now

you X&#?##* dog!”, he’d yell. Nothing doing. Sadie kept on going the opposite direction. Finally, Gary sighed and then looked at me & said, “Watch this”. In a whisper, he said “Sadie – bisky?”. Wouldn’t you know it, that dog turned on a dime and came running back to his side, tail wagging as if saying – “Those were the magic words, boss. Why didn’t you say them sooner?” I know Sadie is missing him, too.

We would always kid Gary about how he didn’t deserve someone so sweet as Lori. He’d mumble and groan and say “Why does everyone always say nice things about Lori and not about me?”, but just under the surface you could tell how very proud he was of her. Although I haven’t been there, I know he worked as hard around their home to make it a haven as he did making things shine around the lab – and that’s saying a lot.

This is the tip of the iceberg – we’ll be thinking of Gary-isms for years to come. His presence is very sorely missed.

**Lori – my heart goes out to you. Don’t hesitate to let John & I know if there’s anything we can help you with from this end. I don’t know if you’ve figured out your plans, but if necessary we can help transport things, move things, or whatever’s needed. 681-5193

– Sue Southard, Battelle Marine Sciences Lab, Sequim

Gary will always be remembered. He always gave me a hard time about staying safe after my accident. We will miss you.

You were everyones friend.

Gary Dennis and I worked together on the Columbia River Bar and other places. He was a dedicated and capable co-worker and a caring and loyal friend. He made it much easier for me to get my projects done by taking care of so many details; from training staff to increase their skill-sets and confidence, taking care of the research boats, making sure we had all the equipment we needed, making friends with all the people we did business with in the Port of Ilwaco, and getting us safely on and off of the water. His attitude toward work and life was uplifting and cheerful. He had a smile for you even when things were not going well. He knew his limits and those of his vessels and crews – and would not push those if conditions were not good. There were many occasions when he made the right choice to turn around – and none where he made the wrong choice. That is as good a record as a captain can have on the Columbia River Bar.

Gary took pride in caring for the research fleet at PNNL’s Marine Sciences Lab. He cleaned a boat like it was going up for sale – every time it was used. In the Port of Ilwaco, Gary would scrub and wash and flush the engines of the research boats after each day on the water, even though they would be going out again the next day. Many of us tried to help – and he would direct us toward the fresh crab and beer while he worked on making the boat spotless. Gas Dock Dave and I marveled over Gary’s attention to detail in the way he cleaned the boat. We both decided he was a little ‘over the top’ – but then agreed that we’d rather work with someone like that – than the opposite.

Gary knew the system of the way things get done at PNNL and was a master at facilitating anything – from the acquisition of a new outboard engine – to the purchase of a fully equipped research vessel – to the operation of a world class saltwater laboratory. He was unequaled in his ability to get things done, and done correctly, within the complex constraints of bureaucratic control measures.

The crew who worked with Gary in the Columbia River Estuary was lucky enough to have spent some very good times together in Astoria and the Port of Ilwaco. On our last trip together down there – only a couple of weeks ago – we had completed most of our work, but still had one piece of expensive equipment that we had not recovered. Gary maneuvered the boat around while the crew dragged a grappling hook in hopes of snagging the equipment. After an hour and a half of going in circles and zig-zags the hook found its mark and the equipment was winched aboard to the amazement of all on-board. Gary did his victory dance on the front deck of the Desdemona – to add to the zest of victory for the crew. Later that evening, Gary almost single-handedly dealt the crew’s shuffleboard ace a 15-0 shut out at the Desdemona Club. Gary was not always the most successful shuffleboard player – so he reveled in that victory as he had earlier in the day – with his victory dance and a huge smile and a laugh.

Gary cared about people. He could be a crusty old salt – but those of us who were fortunate enough to know him well – saw the truly caring man he was. He regularly called me to see how things were going – and always asked about how my kids were doing. He made an effort to stay connected with several of the people on our crew during the ‘off-season’ when we were not regularly in the field. He went to great lengths to make sure that the people on our crew had the equipment to get their work done comfortable and safely. He had a special step made for Jessica so that she wouldn’t have to strain as much to get the heavy anchors up on the gunwale of the boat.

We will miss Gary’s skills and abilities to get the job done. More than that, we will miss his smile and laugh and the way he could always choose the most fitting swear word for the situation. We are going to work hard to get the work done on the Columbia Bar. We are going to have to work hard – because we lost someone who made it possible for us to accomplish our tasks, without it seeming like work.

I will attach a separate document with some photos – along with some captions.

Signed,

Geoff McMichael