Gary Prothero

Gary Prothero, 78, passed away on November 10, 2024. Born May 18, 1946 in Portland, OR to William (Bill) and Mary Prothero and had two older brothers, Bill Jr. And Bob. Gary had an entrepreneurial spirit, a kind heart, a great sense of humor, and loved his family and friends.
Gary graduated from Wilson High School in Portland, Oregon in 1964 and graduated from the University of Portland in 1968. On March 21,1969, Gary married Susan Harmon. After they were married, they lived in Carson City, Nevada where Gary taught at Carson City Jr. High for three years. In 1972, Gary started a band, and they moved to San Jose, California to try to make it big. Gary played lead guitar and was a singer and the band enjoyed moderate success.
When the band didn't pan out, Gary went back to school and got his Masters in Agricultural Sciences from Oregon State University. Gary and Susan had a son, Jason, in November 1975. In 1976 after graduation, Susan and Gary moved to Hawaii as he joined the Sugar industry with AMFAC. They joined a church, Gloria Dei, and Gary and Susan enjoyed playing guitar as part of the church service and they were active in the church. During this time Gary got interested and was trained to program computers and helped to modernize the operations at the Sugar plantation.
In 1983, Gary and Susan returned to Oregon (Hermiston) and started a job as an OSU Extension Agent for Umatilla County. He earned tenure there and enjoyed his time working with the community. While in Hermiston he coached both JV and Varsity Soccer for Hermiston High School for 5 years. Gary and Susan were active at Trinity Lutheran Church and were youth pastors for high school aged kids.
During his time as an extension agent, Gary developed an Irrigation Scheduling application that helped farmers understand their water usage and how it affected yields and production. As part of that software application there was a graphing, charting, and reporting element. Gary saw that graphing and reporting could be useful to other people building software applications and with Susan's encouragement they co-founded a company, ProWorks. Starting in 1986, ProWorks sold charting and reporting tools to other software developers around the world in their Flipper Graphics Library line of products. ProWorks is still alive and well today and has evolved and grown into custom software and website design and development. His son, Jason, was able to join Gary at ProWorks in the early 2000s and they worked together for many years. They have had clients such as NASA, Microsoft, Cal Fire, USDA, LG, and many more.
Gary and Susan enjoyed camping in their camper van, exploring, outdoor activities (hiking, canoeing, skiing), and spending time at their beach house in Waldport, Oregon. He enjoyed playing sports (tennis, jogging, basketball, and baseball) with his family and coached many of his son's teams. He always supported his son and granddaughters in their activities and enjoyed attending as many of their games and recitals as he could. He was loved by family and friends.
Gary is survived by his wife of 55 years, Susan; his son Jason, and three grandchildren; Gwendolyn, Elise, and Avery and his brother, Bill Jr.
A memorial service will be held in spring 2025. Please check the https://www.demossdurdan.com/ website for more information or contact Susan or Jason.