Sean C. Morgan
Roy Franklin Gaskey, 69, remembered as a kind-hearted and generous man, dedicated to his community and family, died April 1 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Friends and fellow firefighters remembered him this week as a man of action who could always be relied on, in any circumstance.
“Roy was the kind of person that lived life to the fullest,” said Fire Chief Dave Barringer, who worked with Gaskey early in his career.
“You definitely knew what Roy was thinking. He was the kind of person that would give the shirt off his back to help you.”
That’s an old cliche, noted Dave Trask, who has been a volunteer with the fire department since 1972, but “he really would.”
“He was a great guy,” Trask said. “Good firefighter. Good leader. I respected him.”
“Tremendous man,” said Larry Johnson, a 25-year volunteer with the fire department who taught Gaskey’s children during high school. “He was dedicated to his family.”
Gaskey was a captain with the department for years, and then he served on the board for years, Johnson said. “He was a role model for anybody. He was the most unifying type of individual, and he made everybody feel special. He was dedicated to our community.”
He would go out of his way to help out new people at the department, Barringer said. “He was an amazing man.”
Gaskey was born Feb. 4, 1946 in Santa Maria, Calif., an oil and agricultural town. He was reared in Wright City, Okla., and came to Oregon in 1958. He graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1964, and married his wife, Darlene, in 1968.
He worked for Pacific Power and Light Co. for 34 years, retiring in 2010. Though he moved his family a number of times for his job, the Gaskeys loved Sweet Home. They returned for good in 1986 and planted deep roots.
Roy Gaskey enjoyed restoring classic Chevys and could be seen tooling around town in his ’56 hardtop.
He joined the Sweet Home Fire Department in 1970 and retired after 38 years.
“He came from humble beginnings,” said son Brandon Gaskey, and he built a good life for his family, leaving his wife a good place to live. He was a self-made man, who came to Sweet Home from Wright City, Okla., with his family along with the Thorpe family.
As a child in Oklahoma, he would hop the fence to his neighbor’s place to get a soda, Gaskey said. That neighbor was Wayne Thorpe.
“They were friends,” said Steve Thorpe, son of Wayne Thorpe. “They all came out from Oklahoma from Wright City at the same time (to find work in the mills).”
The families were close, said Thorpe’s mother, Jeanie Thorpe. They came out to Sweet Home looking for work. They would stay with each other as they traveled back and forth between Oklahoma and Sweet Home, and they looked out for each other.
“Roy, he liked to help get up the Okie picnic they’d have every year. It was really important to him to keep friends and family connected.”
Jeanie Thorpe was a year behind him in high school, she said, and as long as she knew him, “he was always a nice man. All the years I’ve known him, he’s a person that took care of his family. Everybody says he was just a sweet man.”
Roy Gaskey loved sports, Brandon Gaskey said. “My dad was probably a typical hardworking guy, but never a star.”
He played basketball, football and baseball his freshman year, Brandon Gaskey said. The varsity basketball coach let him shoot on the side because he was so respectful. That work ethic led him to become the 13th man on a 12-man freshman squad.
He returned to Oklahoma for a time, Brandon Gaskey said. There, the team wasn’t as skilled as Sweet Home’s. His father had had learned so much basketball in Sweet Home, “he was like a star there.”
While Brandon was playing sports, his father was in an apprenticeship, but he never missed a game. Roy Gaskey continued to watch his children and grandchildren, Kyler, Cade, Kelton and Kaitlyn, play until his health wouldn’t allow him to.
“Thank God for KFIR’s broadcast,” Brandon Gaskey said. His father was able to keep up with all the games.
Roy Gaskey’s involvement in the fire department led his sons into it. Brent Gaskey has been in the fire service for 24 years, and Brandon Gaskey spent five to seven years as a volunteer. Two uncles were in the fire service too, Irvin Gaskey and Fred Honeywell.
“We were all in the fire department together,” Brandon Gaskey said. “That was a really awesome thing.”
From their homes in the Avenues, on a 3 a.m. fire alarm, “it was almost like a race to get there,” Brandon Gaskey said.
His father was mentored by local legends such as Gerry Wooley and Keith Gabriel. Roy Gaskey was “a blue-collar guy,” but he also was a “natural born leader.”
“He loved to give back to the community and got just a rush doing it,” Brandon Gaskey said.
Barringer recalled fighting a fire on an old mill off Green River Road with Gaskey. It was the last fire they worked together.
Barringer, a battalion chief at the time, watched fire rip through the mill and blow the doors out, he said. Gaskey told Barringer he wanted to go in and put that fire out.
Barringer warned Gaskey not to go in, but said he could go to the door and look. The next thing Barringer knew, Gaskey was 20 feet into the building with a couple of other firefighters. That’s when they heard the first beam fall and hit the floor. The roof was collapsing. Gaskey and his team exited in a hurry.
“He was an action guy,” Barringer said. “He was not OK being passive, waiting.”
Brandon Gaskey said his father “expected the best,” but dmonstrated “unconditional love.”
“He would bring out the best in people,” Jeanie Thorpe said. “It’s sad to see him leave this earth, but he was pretty sure where he was going. We sure thought an awful lot of him.”
“He is as genuine as they come,” Steve Thorpe said. “He was just a good man – plain and simple.”
A celebration of life is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, April 11, at the Sweet Home Assembly of God church, 800 Mountain View Road. Donations and contributions may be given to the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District or the Sweet Home Branch of the Boys and Girls Club.