GARY DILBECK

Gary Dilbeck passed away too soon on January 14. He will be missed by so many people. He was married to his wife, Shelly, for 36 ½ years. He had 3 amazing children – Brice, Shane and Carly. Gary was an English teacher at R Rex Parris High School. He was a wonderful influence on his students, many of whom came from broken homes and many with no male role model. He tried to give his students life lessons along with trying to motivate them to graduate and go on to better things.

We moved back to Lancaster 30 years ago. You would think Gary grew up here with all the people he knew and knew him. Everywhere we went he made friends. He had a “guy” for everything. No matter what was happening at the house, he said he had a guy for that. He loved talking with anybody about most anything. He loved a good debate, as our son, Shane, can attest to! He had a unique sense of humor and was always trying to keep me amused. He did a great job of it to.

Gary’s greatest accomplishment was his family. He was so proud of his wife and kids. His students were so amazed that he had been married to the same woman for 36 years! He was a wonderful example of a family man to his students. He was always bragging about his wife and kids to them, and had pictures of us all in his classroom.

It was always funny when we went out and around town. I can’t recall the number of times a young person would come up and ask if he was Mr. Dilbeck. They always told Gary he was their favorite teacher, was so funny, and taught them more than just English. Some of these students are in their 30’s now and still remember and recognized Gary. He definitely had a unique look!

We were fortunate enough to have one last amazing Christmas as a family. We went out to eat and he was so amazed at the beautiful family we had created and how great the kids had turned out. They are all fun, expressive, thoughtful adults. He said he was so happy and so blessed.

Gary had many sayings over the years, but his favorite was “fail to plan, plan to fail!” I can’t count the times I heard him say that, and I’m sure if you asked any of his students, they would say the same thing! Well, he didn’t plan on this and I’m sure he is really pissed not to be here right now, but he took great care of his family and planned that very well!! We love you and will miss you forever!!!!