Parrott, Gary, 78, died at his home in Lakeside, on December 11th. Gary seized the adventurous life for which boys of all ages have yearned: driving a motorcycle across Africa; becoming a Navy SEAL team officer; working with the CIA with the Hmong in Laos. Deep-sea diver in Alaska, the Louisiana Gulf, and New Zealand; the inventor of a tool for working on deep-water pipelines; an aid to the Senate Intelligence Committee; and eventually, with his beloved wife, Celia, lived in quiet retirement on a parcel of ranchland in our own Sandhills.
During many of those post-war years he visited Laos, where his adopted Hmong community regarded him with love, giving him the revered distinction, “Uncle.” It was as their ‘Uncle Bounma” that he arrived each year. It seemed Gary could do anything, could make things, fix things, build his own houses, and in subzero cold could without hesitation go down a hundred feet in a diving helmet in the icy, high-rolling seas off Alaska to repair a leak in an oil pipe. Gary and Celia worked to preserve nature and wildlife, and while living in Washington state they were founders of the Hood Canal Land Trust. Gary knew how to tell a good story and had many good stories to tell. He is survived by Celia, his sister, Carla, and four nieces and nephews. Memorials may be sent to The Great Peninsula Conservancy; Soriano Professional Building, 423 Pacific Ave., Unit 300, Bremerton, WA 98337.