As I began to prepare for our 40th reunion I thought a great deal about seeing many folks that may have not been in my close circle of friends, but whom I knew well and always liked.  Gary was one of those folks, in fact near the top of my list.  All through junior and senior high Gary and I would 'connect' through social gatherings, sports, at school, and especially in high school, a good deal of partying (at the Carriage House and Lake Harriet).  I was therefore shocked and saddened when I first accessed this website and found that Gary had passed away.  Rest in Peace Gary,-you were really a Good Guy and thank you Mary Segal for letting me know what happened.

 Gary was one of the guys I have "known" all my life. He lived a few blocks away, went to Brookside together, Central of course, and finally Park...For me, he was one of those friends you knew but for whatever reason, hung out in different circles. Sometimes though, those circles overlapped and that's when I realized what a nice guy he truly was. To Gary, I was one of those just-described friends. We easily could have been great friends, but were only close acquaintances...and yet, in that socially-charged, in-between classes ritual in which we all greeted our friends (and looked away from those who weren't) as we passed by, Gary Sprague never once looked away from me if we passed one another. He easily could have (he was a big guy and I was...well, let's just say I was "stature deficient") but he never did. Not once. He always passed me with a friendly and enthusiastic greeting - a gesture I didn't receive with much frequency. I think he knew that too. He was always there for me at those important, but seemingly insignificant moments. He was the friend I never knew...and the friend I never knew I had...Thank you Gary, for all those little things that ended up meaning so much...