July 11, 1937 - July 24, 2021
Gary Leon Northcraft was born July 11, 1937 in Topeka, KS to Forest and Gladys Northcraft. He passed away on July 24, 2021. He graduated from Topeka High School before serving in the United States Navy at the age of 18, from 1955 to 1959 aboard the USS AJAX ship. During this time, he was awarded a good conduct medal. When he returned home from his service, he met and married Margaret Ann and they later had one daughter, Andrea. He began his career in 1960 at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company where he worked in the power plant as a boilerman in the engine room. In 1998 he retired from Goodyear with 37 years of service.
Gary’s surviving family includes his daughter, Andrea and son-in-law Kevin. His grandchildren are Christina and Brandon (his wife is Autumn). He also has two great grandsons, Brody and Blaine. He was preceded in death by a brother, Donald Northcraft and a sister, Joan Davison. Gary helped his mother Gladys as she aged with shopping and yardwork for many years. His love of fishing started at an early age- he had many fishing buddies and countless stories to go along with them. He loved taking his grandkids Christina and Brandon fishing and he also enjoyed spending time with his son-in-law Kevin. He adored his two great grandsons Brody and Blaine and loved hearing the stories about them fishing and Brody driving Papa‘s boat. His favorite place to go fishing at was Lake Perry at Rock Creek Marina where he kept his boat- sometimes he also liked to just fish off of the dock too. He enjoyed going into the Marina store and showing off his fish to Denise who works there. He always said that they were so nice and caring to him, and they would let him come in to warm up or cool down depending on the weather.
