He is survived by his daughter Jennifer Crow (Michael) of Queen Anne, son Nicholas Olson (Gina) of Kenmore, and two beautiful grandchildren, Eleanor Olson and Kaitlyn Crow.
Gary was many things in his life and overcame a great deal of adversity. He fought in the Vietnam War, where he lost partial use of his right hand. After returning home, a motorcycle accident cost him a year in the hospital and two inches of bone from his leg. Yet he went on to train as both a policeman and a firefighter and served nearly 30 years as Chief of Police at King County International Airport. And he was a loving husband to his wife, Patricia, until she passed away just a year ago.
My sister and I only knew him as a father, and, despite the military medals and photos of him shaking hands with presidents, father was the role he fulfilled best of all. When we were children, he was strong, so that we always felt safe. When we grew up, he revealed his flaws so that we could set aside any need to measure up and be free to become whomever we wanted to be. When we started families of our own he was constant, so we always knew there was a hand to steady us if we should falter. In his old age he was frail, so that we might know what it is to serve another with compassion.
And through it all – through the hospitals, the pills, the weeks and months of barely getting out of bed – he was always kind, echoed and repeated by every nurse, every therapist, everyone that saw him, so that we might see how to go with grace.
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