Gary Lee Wadsworth, 83, of Sherwood Township, died Sunday, November 7, 2021 at his home, surrounded by his family, under hospice care.
A celebration of Gary’s life will be held at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, November 11, 2021 at Lighthouse Funeral & Cremation, 1276 Tate Trail, Union City, MI 49094. Pastor Trent Hammond from Crossroads Church will officiate. Private interment will be at Sherwood Cemetery.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, November 10, 2021 from 4:00- 8:00 p.m. at the Lighthouse in Union City.
Gary was born on December 30, 1937 in Coldwater, Michigan to Russell H. and Ruth (Pifer) Wadsworth. As a youngster he lived in Girard and Batavia before moving to Sherwood. He began turning wrenches in his father’s garage at the age of 10. He graduated from Union City High School in 1955 and continued on in the family business at Wadsworth’s Garage on Dunks Road. The original garage was in downtown Sherwood.
He married his sweetheart, Lois A. Miller, June 8, 1957 at the parsonage in Sherwood.
In addition to serving as Assistant Fire Chief at Sherwood and working 73 years as a mechanic, Gary and Lois also raised three children together. Gary loved his family and his community. He always found ways to stay involved and served his community for many years. He absolutely loved his Ford trucks. His other love was his dogs, especially “Bo” his Airedale Terrier.
Gary always had time for fun with his kids and grandkids, including Sunday joy ride adventures, birthday celebrations, hayrides in the junkyard, Easter egg hunts, sledding on the dunes in Saugatuck, running his ’48 Ford “Big Red” in the Chelsea Fair Parade, attending swap meets and tractor shows, watching Jeff race at Butler, playing euchre and dominos.
Gary was a great mechanic. He was a hard worker and could fix anything. Working six days a week at Wadsworth Garage was a big part of his life and that time also included family. He loved working with his dad and his son. In addition to working six days a week, Gary also ran a 24-hour wrecker service and joined his dad on many early morning runs to haul iron to Franklin’s Iron and Metal. After retiring, Gary continued to work at the garage and spent many happy hours restoring antique Ford cars and trucks with his son, Jeff.
The Sherwood community was also important to Gary. He lived nearly all of his life in Sherwood and enjoyed reminiscing about the good times and what a great place Sherwood was to live. Gary knew everyone and was always willing to help others in need.
Mr. Wadsworth is survived by his wife of 64 years, Lois Wadsworth, his children; Julie (Rob) Tuttle of Fennville, Lori (Mark) Haskins of Chelsea and Jeff (Mary) Wadsworth of Sherwood; his grandchildren Andrea Lavery, Mike Tuttle, Lyndsey Walton, Benjamin Tuttle and his great-grandchildren Briana Lavery, Kalie Lavery, Arabelle Tuttle and Seth Tuttle. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Jerry Wadsworth and his sister Sherrin VanWormer.
Memorial contributions may be directed to the Sherwood Volunteer Fire Department, 548 N. Main Street, Sherwood, MI 49089 or Kindred Hospice,1911 W. Centre Ave., Unit #1, Portage, MI 49024.
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