Gary Coates
I have mentioned earlier this week that there are lots of things going on in the Nebraska fishing world, I have a lot of things to blog about.
Eventually I will get to them all.
But today I want to tell you that we lost one of the best of our Fisheries Division on October 3. There has been a lot of trout stocking done with heavy hearts in the past few weeks.
Please take some time to read the obituary that I am posting here. It does an excellent job capturing who Gary was and what he meant to his family and to us. I do not need to add a thing.
We have a Fisheries Division meeting next week. It will not be the same without Gary being there.
I only met Gary a couple of times through work, but I can attest to what a great man he was from another meeting.
I took three of my boys and my father fishing at Rock Creek lake one summer weekday. We went to the hatchery hoping to get to look around a little bit.
Gary took the time to give us the grand tour of the facility, educating my kids about the hatchery and the process. He took great pride in the facility and took the time to share his passion and knowledge with me and my sons. He didn’t know I was a Commission employee at the time, he just did it for some guy with his family.
Thank you Gary for your service to our state and your many other accomplishments. Enjoy your time in God’s glory!