Gary Dean Ward

Gary Dean Ward, 75, went home to Jesus on February 13th. He was born April 7th, 1949 in Grand Junction Colorado.Gary graduated from Central High School in 1967. He attended Mesa College and Intermountain Bible College, where he met his future wife, Donna Lynn DeVinney. They were married on June 28th, 1969 and spent 55 adventurous years together. Gary was preceded in death by his oldest son, Eric Ward of Delta. He is survived by daughter Kimberly Cooley (Joshua) of Palmer Alaska, son David Ward (Amy) of Fruita, son Jeffrey Ward (Jennifer) of Arvada, and son Matthew Ward of Grand Junction.In Gary's career, he won a forklift wrangling rodeo, drove his big rig over one million miles, and was awarded a lifetime pass to sporting events at Fruita Monument High School.Gary loved coaching softball, trail riding, camping, the JUCO World Series, wearing funny T-shirts, and playing with his 16 grandkids (Elizabeth, Adam, Alex, Andrew, Kourtney, Isaac, Eli, Micah, Isaiah, Caleb, Julia, Jori, Jillian, Jaxon, Christopher, Lilyan, and two great granchildren, Adeline and AJ). Not only did he spoil his own, he was well known at church as "Grandpa Gary" by all the toddlers, who knew he'd drop everything to play peek-a-boo or hide and seek. Gary was a founding member of Appleton Christian Church, serving throughout the years as elder, deacon, board member, and his favorite job - nursery attendant.Gary's Celebration of Homecoming is March 2nd, 3pm at Appleton Christian Church. In lieu of flowers, feel free to donate to his favorite mission project, Casas por Cristo, care of ACC.