Gary was born in Seattle on October 6, 1942, the middle child of Orin and Geneva Tapert. When he was 8, his family moved to Everett. On Gary’s 16th birthday, his dad gave him a membership to the Everett Golf and Country Club, a Teamster card, and a job as a weekend driver for the family company, Puget Sound By-Products. There, Gary drove trucks to pick up dead animals. One summer, Gary became a national news celebrity by spilling a load of fish heads on a hot Highway 99.
Gary graduated from Everett High School in 1961. He was a trainer for the Everett High School 1960 state championship football team, which some say was the greatest in Snohomish County history. He attended Washington State University and joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, then moved to Seattle and attended the University of Washington. On August 8, 1964, Gary married Carol Fankhauser in Everett. They had two children, Susan Francis Tapert (born 1968) and Stephen Neil Tapert (born 1974).
Gary had planned to work at Puget Sound By-Products, but his dad told him he should only work there for a year because of an impending sale. He completed a management training program in pursuit of a career in the beer and wine wholesale business. Washington state Senator Howard Bargreen hired Gary in 1967 as a sales manager for his new Friendly Distributing Company, the first beer and wine wholesaler in Snohomish County. Senator Bargreen took Gary on many trips to expand Friendly’s variety of wine and beer brands.
In 1972, the Olympia Brewing Company offered Gary to be general sales manager and part owner of Bay Distributing, with Neil Fowler of Everett. Bay Distributing won awards for beer and wine sales, directed by Gary and his motivational, positive approach to sales and management. The company was the largest distributor north of San Francisco for beers such as Hamm’s, Olympia, Schlitz Malt Liquor, Stroh’s, and Old Milwaukee. In 1986, Gary worked at Everett’s Clark Distributing Company. Gary retired in 1995. Memories of his experiences in beer and wine sales were very important to him.
Gary and Carol had homes in Everett and Mission Beach on the Tulalip Reservation. The homes were Gary’s hobby, filled with gardening and remodeling projects. The Mission Beach house, where they resided in summers, had a beautiful view of Puget Sound, the Cascade and Olympic Mountains, Everett, Mukilteo, and Hat, Whidbey, and Camano islands. Gary’s family had an orange boat called the “SST” for Susan and Stephen Tapert, complete with a Hamm’s bear logo. Gary enjoyed tinkering with his hydraulic boat lift, moving the docks, and work on projects around Mission Beach. They built a two-story boathouse on Tulalip Bay; its 330-foot driveway had a 12-foot garden border filled with foliage that Gary tended.
After retirement, Gary enjoyed meeting friends in a weekly coffee group at Karl’s Bakery and Bargreen's Cafe in Everett. The Everett Golf and Country Club was a favorite place for him, where he hosted and attended many family events. Gary and Carol divorced in 2002. In 2003, his grandchild, Brandon Tapert Raimo, was born in San Diego. Gary visited southern California many times to visit his children and grandson.
In 2007, Gary met Gaye Harris at Frontier Bank, and asked her on a date. They spent many happy and fun years together, traveling to Harrison Hot Springs, California, Hawaii, France, Spain, and Italy. In August 2016, Gary married Gaye at the Everett Golf and Country Club. They lived for many happy years in south Everett.
Gary is survived by Gaye Tapert (wife), Susan Tapert (daughter), Stephen Tapert (son), Brandon Tapert Raimo (grandson), Alan Tapert (brother), Gretchen Shaffer (sister), and four nephews, one niece, cousins, a former spouse, in-laws, and many wonderful friends and former business associates. A special thanks to the caregivers, nurses, and staff at Brookdale Silver Lake Memory Care as well as Continuum Hospice.
A celebration of Gary’s life will be held at Everett Golf and Country Club on Wednesday January 11, 2023, from 2:00-5:00pm. Gary’s ashes are together with those of his parents, Orin and Geneva Tapert, at Evergreen Funeral Home & Cemetery in Everett, Washington.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America in memory of Gary Tapert at https://afafundraising.funraise.org/fundraiser/susan-tapert
(or by mail to 322 8th Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001).
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