Gary Lee McGreGor
December 11, 1951
September 29, 2021
A memorial service for Gary Lee McGregor will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November
20, 2021, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 3909 Ermine Trail, Temple, Texas. A livestream
of the service will also be available via Facebook.
Gary Lee McGregor,
69, of Salado, passed away at an Austin hospital on the
evening of Wednesday, September 29, 2021. Gary had
been hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19.
Prior to his passing, Gary was not alone, but surrounded
in love by his wife and children.
Gary was born on December 11, 1951, in Wichita Falls,
Texas, to Lee Roy and Marjorie McGregor. Gary, the
oldest of Lee Roy and Marjorie’s five children, spent his
childhood and most of his teenage years in Dallas and
Irving, Texas. The McGregor family relocated and made
Salado their home in 1971, and Gary was one of four students
in the Salado High School graduating class of 1971.
Despite being considered a “city slicker” by his peers
when he first moved to Salado as a teen, Gary fell in love
with the big skies and backroads of Bell County, Texas
and the village of Salado, and never moved out of the
area. After graduating from Salado High School, Gary
worked at Griggs Equipment Co. in Belton (later Superior
Chaircraft Corp.). It was at Grigg’s that Gary met his
wife. Gary and Helen Hernandez were married on August
17, 1974, in Belton, Texas. Together, Gary and Helen
raised three children who all attended Salado schools
and also graduated from Salado High School.
Gary spent the majority of his working years as a business
manager for the company started by his parents Lee
Roy and Marjorie, Welders’ Supply Company, in Belton.
The McGregor family and their welding supply business
were known throughout Bell County for their business
integrity, and Gary enjoyed serving the family’s loyal
customers. Gary loved people and hated to see anyone
treated poorly or unable to receive service due to language
barriers. Gary never shied away from opportunities
to practice his Spanish, and he never said no to a tamale
sale. After Lee Roy and Marjorie’s retirement from the
welding supply business, Gary owned and operated a
small bookstore in Belton, and later worked at a U-Haul
and storage facility prior to his own retirement from the
workforce at the end of 2016.
Gary was a family man who enjoyed living simply.
Gary never owned more than two pairs of shoes at a time
– one pair for work, one pair for church – and neither pair
ever required shoelaces. Gary passed on a love of history
and road trips to his children. The McGregor family
road trips were the highlight of every summer for Gary’s
children. The trips were planned with meticulous detail
by Gary, who always ensured he had a road map of every
state the family would pass through, along with a notepad
and a pen. The McGregor family’s road trip stops included
national monuments and parks, historic battlefields,
and museums documenting American history. After Gary
and Helen’s children moved away from home to begin
families of their own, Gary and Helen continued their
road trip adventures. Gary would vehemently disagree
that modern technology made paper maps obsolete. Gary
never quite adapted to GPS.
Gary was an avid collector of books and music. Gary
loved perusing garage sales and could come home from
a sale with multiple boxes of books, much to his wife
Helen’s chagrin. Gary was also meticulous in his organization
of his record and book collection and loved sharing
his love of books and music with anyone who would listen.
A lot of people did, including sometimes his children.
Gary and Helen were active members of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Temple, Texas,
which they joined in 1977. Gary and Helen were blessed
to be able to be sealed for eternity in the LDS Temple
in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1979. Gary was active in his
home congregation in Temple, Texas. When the Temple
congregation’s first Spanish-speaking family arrived for
services, Gary immediately approached the family and
offered his assistance. Gary’s efforts led to the creation
of the church’s first Spanish-speaking congregation, a
congregation that exists to this date, and which Gary continued
to attend with his wife Helen up until his passing.
Gary will mostly be remembered for his kind, gentle
nature. He loved animals, and animals gravitated toward
him. Gary truly loved people. As a recipient of kindness
from others when he experienced his own struggles,
Gary was always eager to pay that kindness forward.
Gary spoke to people without passing judgment, and he
listened to what people had to say. If asked for money,
Gary’s first instinct was never to turn the other way. Gary
was a person who stopped and listened, even if the only
assistance he could offer was a listening ear. Gary always
answered when door-to-door salesmen knocked. And
Gary always purchased Girl Scout cookies.
Gary never wanted anyone to feel alone. What most
people will recall about Gary is: “He was the one who
always talked to me.”
Gary is preceded in death by his parents, Lee Roy Mc-
Gregor and Marjorie McGregor. Gary is survived by his
loving wife of over 47 years, Helen McGregor, of Salado;
his sons, Joseph Lee McGregor (wife Jennifer) of
Little Elm, and Aaron Patrick McGregor (wife Sydney)
of Idaho Falls, Idaho; and his daughter, Rachel Elizabeth
Caum (husband Tim) of Dallas. Gary is also survived
by his two brothers, Larry McGregor of Salado, and Jim
McGregor of Temple, and his two sisters, Cindy Fisher of
Salado, and Rebecca Woodham of Scurry. Gary is also
survived by eight beautiful grandchildren.
Arrangements are entrusted to Crotty Funeral Home &
Cremation Services of Belton.
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