Obituary for Gary Byrd Wilson
Funeral services for Mr. Gary B. Wilson will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2020 at Gallagher Funeral Home in Ball, Louisiana with Reverend Stewart Holloway and Justin Vaughn officiating. Burial will follow in Forest Lawn Memorial Park under the direction of Gallagher Funeral Home.
Visitation for Mr. Wilson will be on Friday July 31, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. until service time at Gallagher Funeral Home.
Gary Wilson, 76 years old, passed away Sunday, July 26, 2020 in Alexandria. Gary leaves behind his loving wife, high school sweetheart and devoted partner for 58 years, Patricia Pfeifer Wilson. He is also survived by brothers Charles Wilson of Seymor, Missouri and Orville Wilson of Katy, Texas, sisters Doris Browning of Ball, Louisiana and Zellie Dech of Pineville as well numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by parents Reverend Charles C. and Ora B. Wilson, brother Oliver Wilson and sister Ernestine Wilson Malone.
Gary was a member of the First Baptist Church in Pineville, Louisiana. And, except for his service in the U.S. Army, he was a life-long resident of the area. He graduated from Pineville High School in 1962 and was a starter on the Pineville football team that won the 1960 Louisiana State Championship.
Over a career span of some 40 years, Gary developed a host of friends, contacts and acquaintances through-out the Alexandria-Pineville area.
Initially, following his military service, Gary worked as a pilot and flight instructor; he flew for various local charter air services, provided private pilot training and also worked as a corporate pilot. His flying career included employment at Baker Manufacturing Company which entailed various business trips across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, ferrying executives, customers and others including, at times, then Gov. of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards. Gary loved flying and those that knew him loved listening to his numerous stories and accounts of airplanes, people, places and things he encounter in that business.
Later in his career, Gary formed and operated GW Pipeline Co., a construction and maintenance business oriented to the oil and gas industry. This endeavor allowed him to follow another of his native interests, tractors and heavy equipment. And, it also allowed him to meet and work with many others as he completed various construction projects throughout central Louisiana.
Whether it was the pilots seat of an airplane, the operators seat on a back-hoe or merely the seat behind the wheel of a pick-up truck, Gary loved operating, and had a deep interest in understanding, all things mechanical. And, he also loved the outdoors; hunting, fishing, dogs, camp fires and so on. In his prime, you would either find him working, outdoors enjoying nature or doing both.
But, equal to his career and hobbies, Gary also loved people and enjoyed laughing and talking with the many friends the developed over the years.
Visitation for Mr. Wilson will be on Friday July 31, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. until service time at Gallagher Funeral Home.
Gary Wilson, 76 years old, passed away Sunday, July 26, 2020 in Alexandria. Gary leaves behind his loving wife, high school sweetheart and devoted partner for 58 years, Patricia Pfeifer Wilson. He is also survived by brothers Charles Wilson of Seymor, Missouri and Orville Wilson of Katy, Texas, sisters Doris Browning of Ball, Louisiana and Zellie Dech of Pineville as well numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by parents Reverend Charles C. and Ora B. Wilson, brother Oliver Wilson and sister Ernestine Wilson Malone.
Gary was a member of the First Baptist Church in Pineville, Louisiana. And, except for his service in the U.S. Army, he was a life-long resident of the area. He graduated from Pineville High School in 1962 and was a starter on the Pineville football team that won the 1960 Louisiana State Championship.
Over a career span of some 40 years, Gary developed a host of friends, contacts and acquaintances through-out the Alexandria-Pineville area.
Initially, following his military service, Gary worked as a pilot and flight instructor; he flew for various local charter air services, provided private pilot training and also worked as a corporate pilot. His flying career included employment at Baker Manufacturing Company which entailed various business trips across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, ferrying executives, customers and others including, at times, then Gov. of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards. Gary loved flying and those that knew him loved listening to his numerous stories and accounts of airplanes, people, places and things he encounter in that business.
Later in his career, Gary formed and operated GW Pipeline Co., a construction and maintenance business oriented to the oil and gas industry. This endeavor allowed him to follow another of his native interests, tractors and heavy equipment. And, it also allowed him to meet and work with many others as he completed various construction projects throughout central Louisiana.
Whether it was the pilots seat of an airplane, the operators seat on a back-hoe or merely the seat behind the wheel of a pick-up truck, Gary loved operating, and had a deep interest in understanding, all things mechanical. And, he also loved the outdoors; hunting, fishing, dogs, camp fires and so on. In his prime, you would either find him working, outdoors enjoying nature or doing both.
But, equal to his career and hobbies, Gary also loved people and enjoyed laughing and talking with the many friends the developed over the years.