Gary Naillon passed away peacefully on Sept. 12, 2021 after a difficult battle with pancreatic cancer.
Services will be announced at a later date.
He was born Sept. 28, 1947 in Price, Utah, the seventh child of 10 born to Ben and Juanita (Petitti) Naillon. Gary spent much of his youth helping his father with assessment work on more than 800 mineral claims in the San Rafael Desert in central Utah. He graduated from Carbon County High School in Price, Utah in 1966. During his senior year, he early enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and attended the College of Eastern Utah.
After basic training and tech schools, he completed final training while serving at Nha Trang Air Force Base in Vietnam, where he worked on the famed “Puff the Magic Dragon” Douglas AC47 gunship. Other duty stations included Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Bitburg Air Force Base in Germany, and Hill Air Force in Utah, where he retired with more than 20 years of service. He worked on the first F-15 delivered to the Air Force, T-38s, A-10 Warthogs, F-4 Phantoms and F-16s.
After his Air Force career, he inspected aircraft assembly for Learjet and Cessna in Wichita, and taught evening classes at Wichita Vo-Tech. He then went to work for General Electric at Strother Field, retiring with 24 years of service.
His final job was the most important of all: being a grandpa.
He always loved going to Utah for family reunions, camping and hunting. Being surrounded by his family and friends was very important to him.
He married Cynthia Tieperman in 1973. His children are Sarah Naillon and Judith Naillon (Jack) Regehr. He has one grandchild, Niecy Regehr.
Gary was preceded in death by his parents and siblings, Ruth (Joe) Hallock, Bonnie Thayne, Robert (Evelyn) Naillon, Charleen (Jack) Jensen, Larry Naillon and Colleen Naillon.
He is survived by his wife; his children; his siblings, Pauline (Ray) Hardle, of West Valley, Utah, Ann Beyerly, of Price, Utah, and Carol (Bobby) Schroder, of Horse Branch, Ky.; Sisters-in-law, Robin Parks, of Magna, Utah, and Sheryl Skipper, of Winfield; and brother-in-law, Richard Tieperman, of Winfield. Extended family members include Omer, Fikreta and Elvisa Golubovic, of West Valley City, Utah, and numerous loving nieces and nephews.