One of the Good Guys

We all bump into a lot of people as we go through our lives. Some of them leave a mark. In my own “Big Influence” category, very few belong. Gary Morse was one.

Gary was fearless when facing a challenge, and he would always prevail. Electronics, plumbing, carpentry, woodworking, automobile repair, computers, pottery, stained glass – it didn’t matter what it was. If it (a) needed doing, or (b) interested Gary, he could do it. He would just figure it out and get it done.

Both of us were U.S. Navy Electronics Technicians on the USS Hector for a couple of years back in the 1960s. When my disastrous marriage broke apart and I needed a place to stay, Gary and his then-wife Joyce gave me a bedroom and hot food. He was always generous with his time, his money, his attention, his knowledge.

In many ways, Gary gave me more than I could ever repay. And taught me many times as much as he ever learned from me.

Mesothelioma. It’s generally caused by asbestos exposure. Gary told me that he’s not the first Hector alumnus to be stricken by it. Apparently, in some of the repair shops, asbestos insulation got stripped off valves and such, and the dust got carried throughout the ship by the ventilation system. There is ongoing class-action litigation, I understand, on behalf of the victims.

Gary didn’t follow doctor’s orders (“Get your affairs in order; you have six months”) when he was diagnosed over a year ago. He sought out an experimental treatment at UCLA, and, along with now-wife Suzie, endured an ungodly series of treatments. There were positive signs along the way, but backward steps seemed to outnumber the forward.

I talked to Gary a couple weeks ago. He was feeling better and looking forward to finally using his new, super-sophisticated, numerically-controlled wood lathe. To say he was upbeat would be an understatement.

Gary died yesterday. The world lost one of the good guys, and it makes me really sad.

Me, Joyce Morse, Gary Morse in Long Beach, California, 1966