Gary DeHart, loving father of Diana Reyes, Julie Krahn, and Kristin Rescorla, passed away at the age of 77 surrounded by his daughters on February 19, 2019 at Cottage in the Meadow in Yakima, WA.

Gary DeHart

1942 – 2019

Obituary

Gary DeHart, loving father of Diana Reyes, Julie Krahn, and Kristin Rescorla, passed away at the age of 77 surrounded by his daughters on February 19, 2019 at Cottage in the Meadow in Yakima, WA. Gary was born to parents Howard and Doris DeHart on January 27, 1942 in Yakima, WA. Having spent his whole life in the Yakima area, Gary grew up in Upper Naches Country in the late 1940’s before moving to Wiley City, and ultimately settling on Lombard Loop in Wapato, WA for the duration of his childhood. Gary was the oldest of 3 boys and is survived by his brothers Ron and Steve DeHart.

Growing up in the Yakima area allowed Gary to have a great childhood that often meant fruit fights with his brothers in the orchards and generally getting into as much trouble as they could. Despite his fun loving, trouble-making ways, Gary graduated from Wapato High School in 1960 and went on to enroll in Yakima Valley Community College. Deciding that he needed to focus on work, Gary joined Del Monte in 1960 and continued working there for 38 years until he retired in 1998.

More important than work, Gary met Nancy DeHart, the love of his life, when he was only 16 and she was 15 in 1958. The two had an enduring romance that included love letters and dates on the town before they ultimately tied the knot in a ceremony at Toppenish Methodist Church on October 5, 1962. The two would go on to have their three daughters and ultimately raise them in the “big house on G Street.”

Gary had a love of old western movies and could often be found winding down in the evenings to old episodes of Gunsmoke. He also enjoyed fixing computers, playing Cribbage with his best friend Jim, and cheating on board games with his kids and grandkids. Gary also loved camping with his wife Nancy and they could often be found exploring nature all throughout the west.

Gary DeHart is survived by his two brothers Ron and Steve DeHart; three daughters Diana Reyes, Julie Krahn, and Kristin Rescorla; and 7 grandchildren Tyler, Anthony, Joseph, Ashley, Austin, Emma Rose, and Ethan. A devoted family man and all-around jokester; he will be dearly missed by all. A Celebration of Life will be held at Living Care Retirement Community in the Meyer auditorium on April 27th from 1PM – 4PM. Please feel free to visit www.garydehart.com to share memories and view photos after the Celebration of Life.

Guest book

9 entries.

Cheryl Hulse from Selah, Wa wrote on April 23, 2019 at 6:14 pm:

Gary was like a father to me. I worked for him 3 1/2 years. It was the best job in the world. He was fun to be around and always gave me a hard time. When I would leave to go home he would tell me he called the cops and they were watching for my blue truck.

After he moved to Living Care he met my friend Brenda. Brenda and I are always playing dice. When I would show up for work he would want to know how many times she had won. When I was going home he would ask me "do I need to call Brenda and tell her you are on your way?"
I would ask him what he haf eaten today and he would turn it around on me and ask me what I had eaten. We ate fried potatoes lots of times.

Gary was definetely very unique...one of a kind for sure.
I Miss him so much.
I am so lucky to have met him, he was a very caring man.

RIP Gary
Cheryl

Kristin Rescorla from Yakima wrote on April 18, 2019 at 8:49 am:

Oh man i have so many memories and stories of my dad I really could write a book about them all.

Now I don't remember but this story was told to me many times. See we were a camping family and mom and dad had one of the first tent trailers made and they took us up to the mountains alot. Well this one particular time i was a baby still on the bottle I ended up sleeping with dad that night. I guess in the night there was bears that visited the campsite. Mom woke up first was going to get me and noticed I was missing beside my dad. Of course mom flew in to panic mode Gary where is my baby? Dad rolls over she is right here as he is feeling for me they here something outside the trailer kind of by the hitch. Dad and mom get up go outside and there i sit playing with the hitch. Dad said he looked around and saw 3 bears walking in the distance. Now we all know at this point dad was in trouble with mom because he let the baby fall out of the trailer. They did say i no longer had bottle after that they told me the big kitties got it because that is what I evidently called the bears was kitties.

My second memory was when Jamie and I were trying to have a baby lol. See my dad was so sure i was going to have a girl he actually wrote out a contract. The contract was I was going to have a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. I said gee dad no pressure there lol. Well if he was right I had to make him dinner but if I was right I had to make him and mom dinner. I was like man he must really want a grand daughter. Well when I found out i was pregnant i could'nt wait to find out what I was having. Once I found out i was having a girl i told dad its a girl he said those ultrasounds can be wrong so lets wait til baby is born. Once ashley was born and she came out with blonde hair and blue eyes I was like that old man can predict things.. when I got home from hospital him and mom showed up at our house so he could see her and he said you should know never to mess with dad kris. lol

My dad was a very special man in my life and he will forever be missed! Yes dad you were unique and then he would say my dr said I was kris and I said I know dad

Renee Rodriquez from Toppenish wrote on April 17, 2019 at 7:42 pm:

Loved working with me and getting trained for Q.C. and to work on computers and me and my girls visiting with him and Nancy she give me a recipe and told me to never give it away and haven't loved them both will miss forever

Connie Walker from Pasco, WA wrote on April 17, 2019 at 10:02 am:

Gary was my oldest son's father-in-law. I remember him best as being a jokester and liked to make people laugh. The DeHart's always made me feel like I was a part of their family.He will truly be missed. My condolences go out to the entire family.

Julie Krahn from Canby, OR wrote on April 16, 2019 at 3:23 pm:

I have so many good memories of my dad! One of my earliest memories was I think my 5th birthday. my dad had been layed off from his job and money was very tight , my birthday was approaching and even though there wasnt much money my dad managed to make it so special . I felt like I had so many presents and when your turning five thats all you think about. I remember coming home from the store with mom and Dad had hid all my presents in the back yard and sent me on a scavenger hunt it was so fun he was by my side as I looked. Each gift was so exciting they were small but so meaningful. I had so much fun looking all over our back yard and my dad by my side, even though they didn't spend much money both my mom and dad mad my day special! MY dad was that kind of man he loved his family with all heart!!! Ho worked so very hard to give us a great life! He went on to give me many more wonderful memories and was always their for us! I feel so lucky to have had him as my Dad!!!
Love you forever Dad!

Karen Roberts from Decatur Illinois wrote on April 16, 2019 at 12:16 pm:

One of the best days of my life was when the Mears family moved to Buena. Nancy came to Buena Grade School where we became best buds for life. Along the way she met this nut from Wapato and the rest is history. We both had 3 girls and she knew my husband before I did. I was in their wedding and she said "ok now, I am giving you a big brother and you better behave." He was a wonderful big brother and friend we had so many laughs and some tears. But I look forward to being reunited for eternity with my big brother and my sister in Christ. I love you guys! 💝I

Rick Bloom from West Richland wrote on April 14, 2019 at 8:21 pm:

My best memories of Gary and Nancy are when I was a teen and we went camping a lot. Ohanapekosh campground was the best. But cottonwood fishing was better. And when I got older and had a family of my own it was so hard to get a picture of Gary. Well I should say I got pictures but he always made a face. I can see why he was named ornory.
My mom and dad, Richard and Betty , always loved camping with Gary and Nancy.
They are sorely missed but I am confident that they are all sitting around a campfire having a great time, sipping hot chocolate.

Dini from Vancouver wrote on April 8, 2019 at 10:16 pm:

So Joey asked if I was gonna post anything and this came to mind, when I was about 8 or 9 and I had bought this little green squirt gun at hope chest crafts and dad came home at lunch he was working days at the time and Julie and I thought we’d be smart and squirt him well we got him good but.., on the way home he stopped somewhere and got like a super soaker size squirt gun some where and even filled it with water and we were waiting to get him again but he came around the corner of the house blazing boy did we squeal and boy did he laugh!! Love you dad miss your antics!! Forever your Di Di

Joseph Krahn from Portland wrote on April 8, 2019 at 9:32 pm:

The infamous claw. Papa was known for his claw. He would chase us grandchildren around the house on G street while sneaking slices of bacon to inevitably tickle us until we surrender. Sometimes even getting himself in trouble with the Mrs.

Every time we left Toppenish we knew there was silver dollars coming from Papa. I remember sitting out in his workshop for hours. And then as I got older, I noticed he would partake in terribly cheep gross beer on hot days after mowing the lawn.