I have just asked 20 family members and friends to leave our home so that I could be alone to write an obituary for my husband, Gary Hunt. These 20 or so people are but a fraction of those who have surrounded me in the first 24 hours following Gary's death on May 10, and although I need them, I need to be alone more so that I can try to do this man justice. Unfortunately, Gary was the writer in the family, not me. And words will never do him justice.
The funeral home has provided a form so that I know what I am supposed to write, but I can't use it. Gary wasn't a fill-in-the-form kind of guy, and anyone who will miss him already knows what they need to know. He was 46 years old, way too young to leave us. He was married to me and was barely beginning to scratch the surface on all that we planned to do together. He was an incredible father to four children, three of whom he shared with their father. Our son Gray is 12, Darby is 10, Tillie is 7 and Penelope is 2½. It took all three of us parents to get this far and no one can quite imagine what we will do without him.
I married a dreamer, an iconoclast, a big-hearted man whose eyes always sparkled, a man who gave endlessly to any person or organization and whose presence will be missed for always. He loved books, people, traveling, languages, poetry, music (from some really awful jazz to breathtakingly beautiful opera and most things in between.) He couldn't stand Radio Disney but he listened to it every morning on the way to school and knew the lyrics to every song the kids loved and would sing at the top of his lungs with them. He loved anything outdoors, from skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing and hiking to gardening and reading in a hammock. He loved a great bottle of cabernet and good scotch. He passionately loved his bookstore.
I am not sure where or when Gary would have stopped trying to have the best bookstore in the country. He loved every one of his bookstores: the little weekend stands in Seattle selling used books that led to opening the first Iconoclast Books in Green Lake to the little shop below Perry's, to his two locations on First Avenue, to our beautiful brick home on Main Street and his ultimate dream of having coffee to sip while perusing books in our latest spot on Sun Valley Road.
It was important to him to have the space in the new store to invite others to use it—to sing, to read poetry, to tell us about their work, to read a play, to hold book fairs and parties, to support nonprofits and do things for kids. But mostly, to have a place to allow people to pursue intellectual curiosity and to engage in the great conversations between all types: authors, artists, parents, poets, musicians, performers, kids, politicians, philosophers and his many friends. He would tell anyone who would listen that intellectual pursuit and having passion were most important things.
But if you asked Gary what he loved the most, it would be his family. The hardest part about growing the business—and for several years we maintained three bookstores as well as Rival Books with Brian and Tyler—was that it took so much time away from the ones he loved and the things he enjoyed. He was not a stepfather, he was their Babbo, and if you called Gray, Darby or Tillie a stepchild he would correct you and say no, they were his kids, his bonus kids. "I married Sarah, but the bonus was who came with her," he'd say. "I get to be their dad." Penelope is so blessed to have her big brother and sisters to make sure she knows everything extraordinary about Gary and the passionate way he loved them all.
We invite you to share in a celebration for Gary on Saturday, May 17, at 4 p.m. at River Run Lodge. Gary's family—his father and stepmother, Ron and Karen Hunt; his mother, Sunee Brown; his sisters, Brandi Nolet and Denni Sanders and their husbands, Mark and Lance; and nephew, Jakson—will all need you as much as his Idaho family does. Gary's grandmother, Mildred Geisendorf, cannot travel to be with us but is heartbroken at her loss. She, along with his parents and sisters, was an integral part of who Gary came to be. Gary had many aunts and uncles who are also grieving: Carl and Doris Hunt, Lindel and Gini Hunt, Frank and Karen Hunt and Kenneth and Susie Hunt, John and Karen Brown, Cheri and Pat Wilson, Carla Brown and many cousins. Gary's mother-in-law, Carol Hedrick, and family, Jay, Susie, Finn and Gus Hedrick, and Jim, Elise and Amanda Stelling, and Joel, Sandrine, Christian, Sophie and Evalie Hedrick, and co-dad Mike David all share in this tragedy with us. Without any of them, I don't know where the kids and I would be right now.
Gary and I have dear friends, Jeff Whitaker, Elissa Kline and Erik Gilberg, who are working with our son Gray on photos and music for the service. If you have anything you would like to contribute, e-mail to flolos@qwest.net. We welcome and encourage you to share your memories with us. We need them and so will Penelope.
At the time of writing this, the tragedy is not even 48 hours old, and I can't tell you the amount of love and support we have already received. This is a truly amazing place to be and we all thank you for your support and encouragement as we try to get through this. I am grateful to have loved such an incredible man.
—Sarah Hedrick
