Gary Allan Vogel

Gary Allan Vogel December 9, 1957 - October 2, 2009 Services for Gary Allan Vogel, 51 of Tehachapi, California, will be held at Saint Malachy's Catholic Church in Tehachapi on Friday, October 9, 2009 at 10:00a.m. A luncheon at the church will immediately follow the service. Interment will be at Bakersfield National Cemetery. Gary quietly made a difference in many lives during his short life. His career in highway construction began under his father Charles (Chuck) Vogel's guidance working summers during high school and college. A graduate of California State University, Northridge with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, he combined his father's solid tutoring with his own gentlemanly, meticulous style to develop a trusted bond with those he encountered and mentored. He worked as a senior projects manager with the Bakersfield Branch of Granite Construction Company. Gary was most happy directing large jobs where multiple challenges confronted him at every turn. Gary would frequently say "Just when I think it's all under control, there is something going wrong on the job right now that I don't know about yet!" He married Holly Kress (Vogel) in 2004. They met on an Interstate 15 highway widening project in the Mojave Desert. They made the most of the short time they shared together. An avid fly fisherman and hiker, Gary was most at home with nature. He hiked and fished streams in much of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. His other two passions were astronomy and surfing. He got his first telescope for Christmas as a boy and he was hooked on the constellations. His love of surfing started as a teenager when his family lived in Malibu. His six-foot four-inch frame was not ideal for short board surfing but with dogged determination he mastered the short board. Some of his fondest memories are of surf trips with friends to exotic destinations and weekend getaways to southern California beaches. Gary is survived in death by his wife Holly Vogel, mother Marge Christian and step dad Closen Christian, his sisters Chris Edwards, and Carol Ozenberger. His belief in God's grace gave him incredible strength to battle the cancer that final overtook him. In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made in remembrance of Gary Vogel to the City of Hope Cancer Treatment and Research Hospital. Wood Family Mortuary

This obituary was originally published in the Bakersfield Californian.