HELLO EVERYONE TONIGHT all are welcome, there is a get together at Mr.Jack Iron's house Gary's vehicle is parked in front of his house under the AMERICAN FLAG anyone and everyone is invited friends family all are welcome.

very sorry about a late notice.

Mr. Jack Iron's is located in Clarkston @ 2358 S Ortonville rd 48462 MI. PHONE # IS (248) 627-2268
for directions please go to www.mapquest.com or contact the Iron's family thank you everyone for all your support and help.

the Iron's & Santo Family

Jim, is there a specific time it starts or just any time tonight?

FROM NOW TILL WHEN EVER I WILL BE THERE IN ABOUT 1 HR GOING TO SHOWER ANDGET THE FAMILY TOGETHER RIGHT NOW
THE SANTO FAMILY

will nine be to late. I have to get my wife from work

Charlie

Thanks for posting that for me Jim, My computer had about fifty things going on at once, and was too bogged down uploading pictures of Gary.

I just wanted to let everyone know that this is totaly informal and unorganized. I just wanted to let everyone know that if they wanted to drop by and say hello they are more than welcome. We should be here all night.

My house is very easy to find. You can get off at exit 91 (the M-15 exit) off of I-75, go north on M-15 (toward Davison) about 5 miles. I live right on M-15, my address is 2358 M-15 Ortonville, MI 48462. My house is yellow with a big American flag. You will also see Gary's car sitting in the front yard.

I will probably stop by later. Thanx for the invite.

very generous of the iron family to open their home to us.
it was my pleasure to attend.
not sure i met the whole family but it was very good to meet you jack and jack jr, (and the very, very, very exited dog!)
was great to put a mug with 727jim and russ.
also got to hang with onebadsuperbird, 70 vert and, (hint-hint, - roadrunnerjeff!) & dartgirl again.
there were a few others whom i didnt have time to meet and talk with - hopefully next time guys and girls.
very good people - all of you!
i'm not worthy comes to mind!
group therapy is a good thing!
somebody said cheese and the next thing i know were all getting our picture taken with THE challenger! awesome!
for those that have not seen this car in person - get to the nats! - this is one 'UNLAWFL' challeger folks!
final highlight of the evening for me was when (hint - hint, - roadrunnerjeff!) and dartgirl fired up that beautiful runner! talk about good vibrations! that runner is not only VERY good looking but it sounds VERY unruly! i gotta find a way to steal their key!!!

I just wanted to thank the Irons family for having this get-together tonight. It was sad at first but we got to telling stories about Gary and all in all, I think it was good for all of us. This is all still just so hard to believe...

Here's a few pics from tonight...

Unlawfl and DG's '70 Road Runner...

Unlawfl and my red, white and blue Bird...

I really liked this picture...

Bloody hell John, that last one choked me up and I'm not even a Yank!...'bout says it all really...

I got there, and just could not bring myself to go in. I felt so bad but i just didnt have it in me. I don't deal with death easily and i was just too choked up. Sorry guys.

Dang! I missed it. I'm only about 15 minutes away. Didn't check the computer once after about 5:30 (too depressed), spent the evening watching a movie with the wife & kids then was out in the polebarn working on a Mopar.

Last night was rough and I was very heistant about attending.

I was told prior that Gary's car would be there and did not think I was ready to see that.

Anytime I saw the chally.... Gary was either in it or near it and I knew he wouldn't be standing by it tonight. (Maybe he was though because his presence there was overwhelming at some points.

When we arrived at Jacks house the first thing you could see was Gary's car by the large flagpole. I tried to choke back the tears but they came anyway.

There was a bit of silence for a good while as we all stood there looking at each other... looking at the car..

I looked at familar faces that were so different now than when I had seen them in days gone by. Eyes were red, heads were down.

BUT something amazing happened that night. As impossible as it was for me to believe...... we found ourselves laughing at some corn ball thing Gary had said or did in the past. We found ourselves looking at photos, remembering times at the nats and Norwalk and I learned so many neat things I never knew about Gary.

Of course every now and again if you had time to just sit there and think.. the tears would come again but everyone was very supportive and talking really helped us remember the positive and not to focus on the negative.

Mr Irons and his family are wonderful people and I couldn't help but think this:

No wonder Gary liked them so much.

I wish I would have met them before this whole thing had happened but ONCE AGAIN Gary was bringing new people together and helping to build new friendships.

Russ gave me some pictures of Gary and one of them he's on his bike that he liked so much. lol. He sure looked goofy on that bike. I remember he looked like Forest Gump with a big ol' smile plastered to his face. In this pic he looked just as he did when he was younger on his peeler bike.

You couldn't help but laugh at Gary sometimes because of his comedic down hearted nature.

I think it was good to go to Jacks house last night as it was a way to mentally prepare ourselves for what will surely be a sorrowful day later on this afternoon.

I tried to get Jack to adopt me and told him I'd be cool just sleeping in the garage. (You have to see this mans garage) Then I told him I'd be willing to make an engine swap (switch his hemi from his hemi RR with my 383) he smiled but I don't think he was buying my idea that much.

I felt so much better talking with these men and ladies and I'm glad I didn't chicken out and stay behind. It WAS good therapy.

All who attended THANK YOU for being there and for sharing your stories of Gary and for letting me share some of mine. I couldn't help but think that somewhere close by... Gary was riding a mini bike with a big ear to ear grin on his face and smiling at us.

Thank you Mr. Irons for opening your home and hearts to us.

Sincerely,
DG

Sorry I missed it, would have been there if I had known.

I am sorry I could not attend. But trust me, every day I have thought how much I will miss his posts and his genuine, good nature. I am sure he is smiling down on us right now, appreciating all the good friends he has.

I'm sorry I missed it also.

I thank jack irons, family and friends for making feel very welcome at this very sad time. Thank you for the hospitality .

I was at the Silverdome with my car all day sat and when I went by Jack's house on the way home I didn't even look at it. How could I ahve missed all you guys and Gary's car out front? I didn't get on the web until 10 o'clock.
I am very sorry to have missed it, I only live a mile from there.