September 16, 1951 – December 4, 2021
BOWIE – Gary Don Bogan of Bowie, TX, lost his battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis on Dec. 4, 2021.
Gary was born on Sept. 16, 1951 to Joe Billy Bogan and Billie Pauline Pierce in Amarillo. He was the fourth and youngest child of the family having an older sister, Sharon and two older brothers, Bill and Shelby. As the youngest, he was often called “kid” by his siblings and was called that up until the day he died by his brother Shelby.
If one were to Google “youngest child personality traits” you would find a series of results that all tend to align as follows: Fun-loving, trustworthy, uncomplicated, outgoing, and attention-seeking. Those words accurately describe Gary. Growing up in Amarillo in the 1950s and 1960s those traits, especially outgoing and attention-seeking, served Gary well where he attended Paramount Terrace Elementary, Crockett Junior High and ultimately Tascosa High School where he graduated in 1970. A common thread in all of the Bogan family was athletics and Gary excelled at all but found his passion in baseball as a pitcher. In fact in high school, Gary threw back-to-back no-hitters and parlayed that success into a scholarship offer to Oklahoma State to play baseball.
Life had other plans for him than collegiate baseball and Gary married his first wife, Jackie Nichols and welcomed the birth of his first child, Jennifer Lynn Bogan, in 1971. Although detoured from baseball in college Gary worked to support his family and received a degree from Texas Tech University in 1975. Another one of those personality characteristics described above, he was a trustworthy Red Raider up until the day he died. In Texas Tech’s last 2021 football game Gary could be heard cheering on his Red Raiders from his bedroom as Tech was giving Baylor all that they could handle. Gary had a second daughter, Berkeley, who joined the family in 1976. Gary deeply loved his daughters and in his later years in life took much pleasure in being their father and especially a grandfather. He was called “Poppy” by his grandchildren and their friends becoming a grandfather to them as well.
Gary married his wife, Molly Cathleen Dixon in Dallas in 2010 but they were partners for many years before. While Gary was certainly “attention-seeking” it was his fun-loving personally that drew his grandkids and others to him. They were the ones “seeking his attention.” He was blessed to have five grandchildren and two step-grandchildren. He and Molly both were the first to volunteer to watch their grandkids and really, they did much more than watching them, they reveled in their grandkids during those encounters. Gary had a special relationship specifically with his fourth grandchild Kamden Bogan Thompson who preceded Gary in death in 2017. They are paling around together in Heaven at this moment.
After Molly’s death in 2011, Gary spent his final years in Bowie where he lived out an “uncomplicated” life retiring early playing golf daily, enjoying his close friends and views of Amon G Carter lake from his back patio. He was a fixture at Bowie’s Twisted Oak Golf club where he managed to record three hole-in-ones late in life.
Gary is preceded in death by his wife, Molly Bogan; parents, Joe and Billie Bogan; brother, Bill Bogan and sister, Sharon Collins.
Gary is survived by his older brother, Shelby Bogan and wife, Linda; daughters, Jennifer and husband, Rusty, Berkeley and husband, Justin; grandchildren, Kallie Thompson, Kade Thompson, Macey Samonte and Graham Samonte and countless nephews, nieces and cousins who all found him to be the “life of the party.” That party is still going on but has simply shifted to being a party in Heaven.
Gary didn’t choose ALS. It chose him, but what Gary chose to do is live with ALS these last few years and also live by his lifelong values of love, doing what he loved and living on his own accord. As such he battled the disease with dignity and independence, played golf until he could literally play no more and love family and friends up to the very end where he spent his last Thanksgiving holiday surrounded by his daughters and their family who returned the love to him. Hellen Keller once said that “What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose. For all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” Gary was and will be forever deeply loved and will live on in those that called him “family” or “friend.” God bless Poppy.
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