Obituary of Gary E. Ryan

Gary E. Ryan, 1931-2023

 

On November 6, 2023, Gary E. Ryan passed away at his home in Willingboro, New Jersey. He was a graduate of Merchantville High School and of Bucknell University. On May 23, 1959, he married Roberta (Covert) Ryan and they later had four sons: Jeffrey, David, Curtis, and Michael.

After graduating from college, he was drafted and sent to the war in Korea. That changed his life in many ways. He was always very proud of his military service. He was a master story teller, and he had some good ones. These included vivid memories of taking the train across the United States, from New Jersey to the waiting troop ship in Oakland, California, and seeing much of the U.S. for the first time. He never forgot that experience and how much it moved him.

He was profoundly aware of his repeated sheer good luck in his military service and in his later health and longevity. He was part of the 931st Aviation Group in Korea from 1952 to 1953, an engineering group detached to the Air Force. He had stories of every part of his military service, including the long journeys over and back, and his several leaves that he spent in Tokyo, Japan.

It was in the army that he found his vocation and his calling. The army sent him to drafting school, where he showed an incredible aptitude for the precise nature of the work. After the war, and after his military service, he became a licensed architect, establishing his own private business out of his home in Willingboro. He had a very successful career as an architect, with his works dotting the geographic landscape across South Jersey. He was a devoted fan of the Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles. But mostly, he adored his family – pictures of whom surrounded him in almost every room of his house.

Gary was preceded in death by his wife, Roberta, his father, Robert, his mother, Charlotte, his sister, Bobette, and his brother, Jaye, as well as his brother-in-law William, his brother-in-law John, and sister- in-law Carroll. He is survived by his four sons, his daughters-in-law Alison, Julie, and Kimberly, his sister-in-law Joanne, as well as his grandchildren Evan, Sean, McKenna, Eileen, Logan, and Liam. He was known as Uncle Gary to his many nieces and nephews as well as great nieces and nephews. Gary E. Ryan was deeply loved and he will be sadly missed.

Funeral Services and interment will be private and at the convenience of his family.

 

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