Gary Fogelquist Passed Away
Gary, a good friend of mine, died on December 28, 2008 in Seattle, WA.
Gary at the Grand Canyon last Christmas.Photo courtesy Colette Philip
I first remember him in some side yard in Dhahran as returning students, late at night, up to no good I'll wager, and there was something there about him that caught my attention. An easy friendliness.
I got to know him well when we both returned to work out there in the late 70s early 80s. Most of the good times we had together then were always on camping trips. He had a black and white Range Rover that, I think, he and his brother Tom may have driven back from London and it could go anywhere in the sand and I had a Toyota Land Cruiser that, with a set of Michelin Diamond Tread sand tires, would, driven properly and knowing how to read the sands, go absolutely anywhere. Both of us were really good drivers, confident and relaxed driving - we never got stuck. It was overland travel, driving through big dunes, as opposed to crashing around like they do back here. You could drive very comfortably, almost like on a mild roller coaster. The most comfortable way to traverse a set of dunes requires speed to swoop up across the side of the dune so that the slip face is two feet to the left and and getting taller fast as you're going 50kph, up to the top. That's where the sand is hard and smooth, best for driving. If you go behind the dunes you have to tack back and forth like a sail boat in the washboard dikaka. And the bottom of a slip face out there is usually subka - lumpy sand like icing that will crack open under the weight of a car, drop you down through a foot of air into fine dry salty sand and you'll spend the rest of the day digging out. I sat around many fires with him in the dunes. There were nights where we'd drive to the set of dunes out the back of camp - a 15 minute drive from Dhahran, spend the night and get up and drive into town for work the next day.
He was well read and interested in everything, had a great vocabulary that he could embellish and embroider every conversation with. He spoke Arabic better than almost all of us, and had a more refined sense of art and history than most of us. He was just really bright. And funny too, but you had to listen because language was a big part of it - he made you work for it. He was a Renaissance man of the first order.
And most of these trips with Foghat (Gary) were done with his brother Tom, also a very good friend. He and Tom were best friends forever and preferre each others company to all others.
Due to a bad blood transfusion when he broke his leg years ago, combined with hard living, Gary suffered from liver failure.
Colette Philip and I talked to Gary all the time over the past years as he got ill and she and I, after a long day with family and friends, got together tonight on the phone and talked about him.
Gary and Colette met when Gary was convalescing from a broken leg, she helped nurse him back together, ending in one of those great romances that you remember fondly for the rest of your life. Happily they remained close friends through the years because Colette has been just a great source of strength for Gary and I know it is largely because of her that he kept being himself - he trusted her. I talked to him a few nights ago and he was facing reality with a courage and a sense of humor I hope I can match when it's that time.
Jeff and Colette
Contact Information:
Hal and Marilyn Fogelquist
10901 176th Circle NE, #3618
Redmond, Washington 98052
(425) 882-1514
haroldfogelquist@comcast.net