Gary Allen Richard Bays

July 6, 1947 ~ May 15, 2022 (age 74)

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Gary Bays Obituary
Gary A. R. Bays, 74, of Lake Oswego, OR, passed away on May 15, 2022 after a valiant battle with cancer.

Gary was born in 1947 to Bernard O. R. Bays and Joyce Fawcett Bays in Ilford, England and grew up in South-End-on-Sea at the mouth of the Thames River. He was raised, first by his father and grandmother, and then by his father and stepmother, Mary Mabel Bays, together with his stepsister, Jillian Ballard. In 1964 the family moved to the United States, settling in Maryland. After four years in the U.S. Air Force, he studied at the University of Maryland, graduating with a business management degree.

After graduation he worked as a technician for several computer companies, drawing on his Air Force training. He went on to management and supervised technicians in the eastern United States and Canada, eventually moving to the Portland, OR area in 1987 with his family. After working in the computer industry, he went on to own two small businesses, one in the travel industry and later a dry cleaning delivery service, retiring in 2018.

In 1980 he had met his second wife, Carol Jo Nusbaum Spiegel in Virginia, and they wed in 1981, successfully blending their families, including Brian Spiegel (Aei), Joli Spiegel (Phil Lyman) and David Bays. In addition to these, he is survived by his grandchildren, Macy Lyman and Evan Spiegel.

He and Carol Jo greatly enjoyed camping/glamping and drove their various RVs across the country and around the Pacific Northwest, sightseeing and visiting friends and family, accompanied by their small dogs. They kept a blog of their travels called BaysAway at baysaway.blogspot.com.

Golf was his passion and any free time would find him on the links, watching golf videos or practicing his putting or his swing. Any RV trip definitely included lots of golf.

Gary was a kind and compassionate man, full of fun and humor, who will be greatly missed by his family and friends. He was more than brave, fighting his illness up to his very last day. He had a way of bringing out the best in people and encouraging them to be more than they ever expected to be.

Hopefully, an Open House will be held in his memory when the threat of Covid spread has lessened.