Gary was born on January 15, 1965 to Robert Godbout and Rosemary Mensch in Kansas City, MO. He grew up on the “best street in the world” in Grandview, MO. Many memories of bike rides, kick the can, softball tournaments and football games in the field behind their house, just to name a few. The Godbout’s were members of Coronation of Our Lady Catholic Parish where Gary was an altar boy and met lifelong friends. Vacations to Roaring River in southern Missouri topped his memories as a kid and, as an adult, he shared his love of “God’s country” with his family.
Gary graduated from St John’s Seminary in 1983. He then attended Missouri State University where he received a degree in communications. After graduation he back-packed through Europe for three months. He created memories to last a lifetime and came home with “0.92 American cents!” Upon return, he began working at Black and Veatch in their communications department.
In 1989, while out with friends, Gary met Margaret. The two became friends and eventually started dating. They married in 1992 and together they created a beautiful family. Gary loved his children, Joseph Robert, Daniel Timothy and Grace Elizabeth. He enjoyed watching them in sports and activities, showing them how to fish and taking them to Branson and Roaring River for vacations. You would often hear him tell them “I'm so proud of you” and “I love you”.
In 1997, after 8 years at Black and Veatch, Gary began working at Sprint as a communications manager. He spent years in the marketing communications department in various roles, soon to become a Director and responsible for communication production. He joined YellowFan Studios in 2017 to help lead Operations Finance and internal HR. When Sprint and T-Mobile merged in 2020, he took over as the Sr. Manager of Operations for T-Mobile. He had recently celebrated his 25th year.
Gary enjoyed the simple things in life such as fishing, rides in the country, the Missouri State Fair, eating a meal at the counter of a “hole in the wall” diner, Keystone Light, trips to Table Rock and Beaver Lakes, a good bon-fire, listening to the Royals on the radio and going to Estate Sales. Somewhere along the line, and much to the amusement of his children and wife, he became a collector of Weber Grills, vintage gas cans and Coleman camp stoves.
To know Gary is to love Gary. He was genuine, honest, loyal, trustworthy, funny, determined, disciplined, the best storyteller and a man of his word….even if it meant losing a bet and having to get a dog!
He had many titles: son, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, friend, co-worker, husband….but his favorite title was DAD.
Gary was preceded in death by his father, Robert Godbout. He leaves behind his wife of 30 years, Margaret and their 3 children Joe, Danny and Grace; his mom Rosemary Mensch, his sister Sue Gustafson and brother David (Sherri) Godbout; brothers and sisters in law Tim and Connie Hilboldt, Joanne and Jerry Reardon, Mike and Carol Hilboldt, Joe and Karen Hilboldt and Mary and Jim Bessenbacher; 35 nieces and nephews and countless great nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be held from 9:30-11:00 am followed by a Funeral Mass at 11:00 am on Friday, December 23 at St. Michael the Archangel Church, 14251 Nall Avenue, Overland Park, KS 66223.
The service will be live-streamed: https://stmichaelcp.org/ecatholic-live.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donating to a charity of your choice in Gary’s name.
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