Gary David Kovach

Gary David Kovach died Dec. 10 in Fletcher, N.C., surrounded by family and wrapped in love. He was many things to many people during his 82 years and will be greatly missed.

Gary was born July 7, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pa., and spent his early childhood in the coal mining village of Wildwood, Pa. With his parents and two younger brothers, he moved to Miami, Fla., in 1957. He graduated from Southwest Miami High School in 1961 and attended the University of Florida before serving in the Air Force from 1962 to 1965 as a flight line mechanic. He appreciated seeing parts of the world this way, with stints in Japan, which he especially enjoyed, and Turkey, Korea and Vietnam. After returning to Miami, he worked for a defense contractor and Eastern Airlines. He obtained a pilot's license from Dade County Junior College, but flying was not to be his path.

Gary met the love of his life, Gerry, on a blind date in Miami in 1963, and they married in 1965. He missed her terribly after she died in 2017, and he looked forward to being reunited with her on the other side. Together they delighted in spending as much time as possible with their grandson after he was born in 2010.

In the early 1970s, Gary worked as a mechanic at the Gulf station his parents operated in the Cutler Ridge area of South Miami. He and Gerry moved with their two young daughters to Western North Carolina in 1974, landing in Fairview for a year before settling for the ensuing decades in Candler. For several years Gary and Gerry operated an Exxon station and convenience store conveniently located below their house at Pisgah Highway and Morgan Branch Road.

Throughout his life Gary indulged in physical labor, tending to yardwork and other outdoor chores. He built brick sidewalks at two of his homes and a set of creatively spaced hillside steps at another. He was adventurous and curious and lent his skills to several hobbies, including refinishing antique furniture and, to the delight of his daughters, horseback riding. Several horses called the family's fenced-in Morgan Branch back yard home, and Gary became adept at gently breaking and training horses for others. An early spark for photography was evident in the slides he compiled from his time in the military. In retirement he pursued this avocation with great fervor and a robust amount of gear, exploring favorite spots around Asheville, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the coast. He was well-known in his nursing home for roaming the halls and courtyard with his Canon 70D, searching for things to capture.

Beginning in 1981, Gary worked for trucking companies in Candler and Fletcher and a car dealership in Canton. In 2000, he entered what was perhaps the most formative phase of purpose and service in his employment life when he became assistant director of the AHOPE Day Center, an Asheville organization that serves the homeless. This job, which he held for several years, flowed organically from the social service outreach that he and Gerry participated in during the 1990s as members of the Cathedral of All Souls in Biltmore. Gary became a lay eucharistic minister in 1992 and served on several parish committees and Alzheimer's and HIV/AIDS care teams.

Gary's soul truly blossomed after he answered a mystical middle-of-the-night calling in 1998 to become a deacon. He completed a course of study with the University of the South and was ordained in 2002 at All Souls. He served at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Asheville until 2013, with a focus on aiding the indigent and homeless. He assisted in regular church services, delivered sermons and ministered in care facilities, sharing Communion and company with hundreds of people. He helped coordinate a meal program at the Church of the Advocate in Asheville and mentored future deacons. Gary remained committed to applying Christian values in everyday life and was intrigued by the relationship between church and culture.

Gary is survived by two daughters, Leslie Waugh (her husband, Matthew), of Clayton, N.C., and Heather Anderson (her husband, Brian Littman), of Greer, S.C.; a grandson, Graham Littman, of Greer, S.C.; two brothers, Gap Kovach, of Lakeland, Fla., and Jeff Kovach, of Ringgold, Ga.; and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial service with interment of ashes will be held Friday, Dec. 19, at 2 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Asheville, followed by a reception. Asheville Area Alternative Funeral and Cremation Services assisted in the arrangements.

Donations may be made in Gary's name to Homeward Bound of Western North Carolina, Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry and the Church of the Advocate in Asheville.

Gary's family would like to thank his many caregivers of the past several years, notably the staffs at Fletcher Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center and Four Seasons hospice care.