Key Life Events, Hobbies and Interests
September 11, 2020
by Bruce Miner
Gary lived on and worked the Miner family farm in Fairview, Utah until 1959 when he moved to Salt Lake City to attend Utah Technical College. It was in Salt Lake City that he met Dawn and they were married on June 2nd 1960. They moved back to Fairview where he once again worked the Family Farm and also got a job digging ditches for Mountain Fuel. In 1963 they moved to Provo where he began working as a Police Officer. He retired from the police department in 1984 and got a job as the Manager of the Provo Police and Fire Department Credit Union. He managed the Credit Union until 1999 when he retired and moved to Diamond Valley, Utah. He spent his initial retirement years upgrading their property "Deer Haven" into what became a Family Resort Property where several family reunions, weddings, cousins camps and celebrations were held. In 2012, they moved to a smaller home which was easier to physically maintain in Washington City.
He was always developing and improving his artistic talents. He had created several oil and acrylic paintings and even served as a forensic artist for the Provo Police department, He restored several antiques from pianos and foot pump organs and an Edison Record player. He mastered the art of building wood Nut-Crackers which were in such demand by family and friends that he eventually saw their creation as more of a job than an enjoyable hobby. A similar problem occurred with his Scroll-Cut Clocks which were amazing in both detail and design. He would frequently become so good at a specific type of artwork or craft that he would make and give them away to family and friends because he enjoyed making them. Eventually he would become overwhelmed and would sometimes just stop all work of a specific type of art, for example after making about 20 to 30 scroll clocks for family and friends he stopped in the middle of building two clocks in 1998 and he did not work on these or any other scroll clocks for about 10-12 more years when one of his grand-children asked him to teach them how make a scroll cut clock. This request got him restarted and not only did he teach them how to build Scroll Cut clocks he completed the two clocks he had started years before and then began building more and more clocks which he did not stop making until he was physically unable to do the precise cutting that was needed. His pysanka eggs (Ukrainian Easter Eggs) are another example of his artistic talent he has made hundreds of these and has given most of them to family and friends. One of his most endearing qualities was his ability to find humor in just about anything. Even as he was bed ridden in his fight with brain cancer he would frequently make jokes and find ways to laugh at his difficult circumstances.
He was always developing and improving his artistic talents. He had created several oil and acrylic paintings and even served as a forensic artist for the Provo Police department, He restored several antiques from pianos and foot pump organs and an Edison Record player. He mastered the art of building wood Nut-Crackers which were in such demand by family and friends that he eventually saw their creation as more of a job than an enjoyable hobby. A similar problem occurred with his Scroll-Cut Clocks which were amazing in both detail and design. He would frequently become so good at a specific type of artwork or craft that he would make and give them away to family and friends because he enjoyed making them. Eventually he would become overwhelmed and would sometimes just stop all work of a specific type of art, for example after making about 20 to 30 scroll clocks for family and friends he stopped in the middle of building two clocks in 1998 and he did not work on these or any other scroll clocks for about 10-12 more years when one of his grand-children asked him to teach them how make a scroll cut clock. This request got him restarted and not only did he teach them how to build Scroll Cut clocks he completed the two clocks he had started years before and then began building more and more clocks which he did not stop making until he was physically unable to do the precise cutting that was needed. His pysanka eggs (Ukrainian Easter Eggs) are another example of his artistic talent he has made hundreds of these and has given most of them to family and friends. One of his most endearing qualities was his ability to find humor in just about anything. Even as he was bed ridden in his fight with brain cancer he would frequently make jokes and find ways to laugh at his difficult circumstances.