Gary Black...known as "Rich" to some of his Citadel classmates...was born at his grandparents' dairy farm in Anderson, S.C. His father abandoned the family, and his mother remarried. But the family struggled financially with the illness of a younger stepbrother. At 12, Black asked a church pastor for help; and he ended up moving to the Epworth Children's Home (founded 1896), an orphanage in the S. C. state capital of Columbia. Duplicate memorial, HERE. There, he worked on the school's farm and cut hair. He was a 1962 graduate of Dreher High School, Columbia, S. C. As an adult, Black would tell his family that Epworth had saved his life; and he was a generous donor, his wife Jeanette Black said. Earning a full academic scholarship there, Gary was a graduate of the Citadel in Charleston, S. C., class of 1966, H Company, with a degree in Modern Languages (earning Departmental Honors). He was my classmate. During his time at The Citadel and after, he was a folk singer with "Friends in the South" and enthusiastic about various genres of music.
Tragedy: During the night, some 3 intruders (the deceased attacker, his alleged mother & another male) broke into Gary's home; and a naked man began assaulting his 11 year old grandson on the couch & dragging him into the bathroom where the father (Gary's stepson, Chad Hayashi) jumped into the fray followed by Gary. Gary fought the intruder and got away in time to grab his 9mm pistol and shoot him and then searched for the other intruders as his wife called 911. With hearing problems, Gary did not have his hearing aids in when the police shouted "Put your gun down". Gary was still holding the gun in search of the other intruders when he was fatally shot by law enforcement who mistakenly thought he was the intruder.
Military service ran in the family. Gary's father was a World War II veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge. Gary was a U.S. Army lieutenant & veteran of the Vietnam War during which he was taken prisoner and injured multiple times. He left the service due to wartime injuries that he carried with him the rest of his life. Military awards included a Purple Heart, 3 Bronze Stars with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Service Star, Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 Device, National Defense Service Medal, and four O/S Bars and a Vietnam Cross of Gallantry .
Gary moved to Aurora, Colorado, where in the spring of 1974 he met his future wife, Jeanette and her son Chad. It was love at first sight for both of them. They raised 3 children and ran a restaurant and hotel. Then Gary went back to school in 1990, graduating from Denver University and Metro State College Denver with degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems, Cum Laude, GPA's 3.8/4.0. He earned his CPA in 1994. and began working for the Internal Revenue Service . He went on to continue serving his country as a federal agent for the IRS from which he retired in 2015.
He is survived by his wife, Janette, and stepson, Chad Hayashi and two daughters and 4 grandchildren. The funeral is scheduled in Colorado for August 25th. A memorial service will be held in honor of Gary at 2:00 p.m. Saturday September 22 in Summerall Chapel at The Citadel. Following the service, the interment of his ashes will take place at the columbarium at Grace Church Cathedral, 98 Wentworth Street, Charleston, S.C.∼Richard Black
Aurora, CO
Richard Gary Black Jr. age 73 of Aurora, Colorado passed away on July 30, 2018. Mr. Black was born on January 20, 1945 at his grandparents farm in Anderson, South Carolina. At the age of 12 he moved into the Epworth home, an orphanage in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from The Citadel, Charleston, S.C., class of 1966. He became a captain in the US Army, serving in Vietnam and earning the Purple Heart & Bronze Star Medals. He is survived by his wife Jeanette, his stepson Chad, his 2 girls Elizabeth & Catherine, his four grandchildren Kilah, Kai, Lillian & Chloe. A memorial service will be held in his honor at The Citadel Summerall Chapel at 2 pm Saturday Sep 22. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in his honor to either: The Epworth Children's Home or The Citadel Foundation.
Published in Anderson Independent-Mail on Sept. 21, 2018
Tragedy: During the night, some 3 intruders (the deceased attacker, his alleged mother & another male) broke into Gary's home; and a naked man began assaulting his 11 year old grandson on the couch & dragging him into the bathroom where the father (Gary's stepson, Chad Hayashi) jumped into the fray followed by Gary. Gary fought the intruder and got away in time to grab his 9mm pistol and shoot him and then searched for the other intruders as his wife called 911. With hearing problems, Gary did not have his hearing aids in when the police shouted "Put your gun down". Gary was still holding the gun in search of the other intruders when he was fatally shot by law enforcement who mistakenly thought he was the intruder.
Military service ran in the family. Gary's father was a World War II veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge. Gary was a U.S. Army lieutenant & veteran of the Vietnam War during which he was taken prisoner and injured multiple times. He left the service due to wartime injuries that he carried with him the rest of his life. Military awards included a Purple Heart, 3 Bronze Stars with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Service Star, Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 Device, National Defense Service Medal, and four O/S Bars and a Vietnam Cross of Gallantry .
Gary moved to Aurora, Colorado, where in the spring of 1974 he met his future wife, Jeanette and her son Chad. It was love at first sight for both of them. They raised 3 children and ran a restaurant and hotel. Then Gary went back to school in 1990, graduating from Denver University and Metro State College Denver with degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems, Cum Laude, GPA's 3.8/4.0. He earned his CPA in 1994. and began working for the Internal Revenue Service . He went on to continue serving his country as a federal agent for the IRS from which he retired in 2015.
He is survived by his wife, Janette, and stepson, Chad Hayashi and two daughters and 4 grandchildren. The funeral is scheduled in Colorado for August 25th. A memorial service will be held in honor of Gary at 2:00 p.m. Saturday September 22 in Summerall Chapel at The Citadel. Following the service, the interment of his ashes will take place at the columbarium at Grace Church Cathedral, 98 Wentworth Street, Charleston, S.C.∼Richard Black
Aurora, CO
Richard Gary Black Jr. age 73 of Aurora, Colorado passed away on July 30, 2018. Mr. Black was born on January 20, 1945 at his grandparents farm in Anderson, South Carolina. At the age of 12 he moved into the Epworth home, an orphanage in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from The Citadel, Charleston, S.C., class of 1966. He became a captain in the US Army, serving in Vietnam and earning the Purple Heart & Bronze Star Medals. He is survived by his wife Jeanette, his stepson Chad, his 2 girls Elizabeth & Catherine, his four grandchildren Kilah, Kai, Lillian & Chloe. A memorial service will be held in his honor at The Citadel Summerall Chapel at 2 pm Saturday Sep 22. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in his honor to either: The Epworth Children's Home or The Citadel Foundation.
Published in Anderson Independent-Mail on Sept. 21, 2018
Gary Black...known as "Rich" to some of his Citadel classmates...was born at his grandparents' dairy farm in Anderson, S.C. His father abandoned the family, and his mother remarried. But the family struggled financially with the illness of a younger stepbrother. At 12, Black asked a church pastor for help; and he ended up moving to the Epworth Children's Home (founded 1896), an orphanage in the S. C. state capital of Columbia. Duplicate memorial, HERE. There, he worked on the school's farm and cut hair. He was a 1962 graduate of Dreher High School, Columbia, S. C. As an adult, Black would tell his family that Epworth had saved his life; and he was a generous donor, his wife Jeanette Black said. Earning a full academic scholarship there, Gary was a graduate of the Citadel in Charleston, S. C., class of 1966, H Company, with a degree in Modern Languages (earning Departmental Honors). He was my classmate. During his time at The Citadel and after, he was a folk singer with "Friends in the South" and enthusiastic about various genres of music.
Tragedy: During the night, some 3 intruders (the deceased attacker, his alleged mother & another male) broke into Gary's home; and a naked man began assaulting his 11 year old grandson on the couch & dragging him into the bathroom where the father (Gary's stepson, Chad Hayashi) jumped into the fray followed by Gary. Gary fought the intruder and got away in time to grab his 9mm pistol and shoot him and then searched for the other intruders as his wife called 911. With hearing problems, Gary did not have his hearing aids in when the police shouted "Put your gun down". Gary was still holding the gun in search of the other intruders when he was fatally shot by law enforcement who mistakenly thought he was the intruder.
Military service ran in the family. Gary's father was a World War II veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge. Gary was a U.S. Army lieutenant & veteran of the Vietnam War during which he was taken prisoner and injured multiple times. He left the service due to wartime injuries that he carried with him the rest of his life. Military awards included a Purple Heart, 3 Bronze Stars with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Service Star, Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 Device, National Defense Service Medal, and four O/S Bars and a Vietnam Cross of Gallantry .
Gary moved to Aurora, Colorado, where in the spring of 1974 he met his future wife, Jeanette and her son Chad. It was love at first sight for both of them. They raised 3 children and ran a restaurant and hotel. Then Gary went back to school in 1990, graduating from Denver University and Metro State College Denver with degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems, Cum Laude, GPA's 3.8/4.0. He earned his CPA in 1994. and began working for the Internal Revenue Service . He went on to continue serving his country as a federal agent for the IRS from which he retired in 2015.
He is survived by his wife, Janette, and stepson, Chad Hayashi and two daughters and 4 grandchildren. The funeral is scheduled in Colorado for August 25th. A memorial service will be held in honor of Gary at 2:00 p.m. Saturday September 22 in Summerall Chapel at The Citadel. Following the service, the interment of his ashes will take place at the columbarium at Grace Church Cathedral, 98 Wentworth Street, Charleston, S.C.∼Richard Black
Aurora, CO
Richard Gary Black Jr. age 73 of Aurora, Colorado passed away on July 30, 2018. Mr. Black was born on January 20, 1945 at his grandparents farm in Anderson, South Carolina. At the age of 12 he moved into the Epworth home, an orphanage in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from The Citadel, Charleston, S.C., class of 1966. He became a captain in the US Army, serving in Vietnam and earning the Purple Heart & Bronze Star Medals. He is survived by his wife Jeanette, his stepson Chad, his 2 girls Elizabeth & Catherine, his four grandchildren Kilah, Kai, Lillian & Chloe. A memorial service will be held in his honor at The Citadel Summerall Chapel at 2 pm Saturday Sep 22. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in his honor to either: The Epworth Children's Home or The Citadel Foundation.
Published in Anderson Independent-Mail on Sept. 21, 2018
Tragedy: During the night, some 3 intruders (the deceased attacker, his alleged mother & another male) broke into Gary's home; and a naked man began assaulting his 11 year old grandson on the couch & dragging him into the bathroom where the father (Gary's stepson, Chad Hayashi) jumped into the fray followed by Gary. Gary fought the intruder and got away in time to grab his 9mm pistol and shoot him and then searched for the other intruders as his wife called 911. With hearing problems, Gary did not have his hearing aids in when the police shouted "Put your gun down". Gary was still holding the gun in search of the other intruders when he was fatally shot by law enforcement who mistakenly thought he was the intruder.
Military service ran in the family. Gary's father was a World War II veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge. Gary was a U.S. Army lieutenant & veteran of the Vietnam War during which he was taken prisoner and injured multiple times. He left the service due to wartime injuries that he carried with him the rest of his life. Military awards included a Purple Heart, 3 Bronze Stars with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Service Star, Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 Device, National Defense Service Medal, and four O/S Bars and a Vietnam Cross of Gallantry .
Gary moved to Aurora, Colorado, where in the spring of 1974 he met his future wife, Jeanette and her son Chad. It was love at first sight for both of them. They raised 3 children and ran a restaurant and hotel. Then Gary went back to school in 1990, graduating from Denver University and Metro State College Denver with degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems, Cum Laude, GPA's 3.8/4.0. He earned his CPA in 1994. and began working for the Internal Revenue Service . He went on to continue serving his country as a federal agent for the IRS from which he retired in 2015.
He is survived by his wife, Janette, and stepson, Chad Hayashi and two daughters and 4 grandchildren. The funeral is scheduled in Colorado for August 25th. A memorial service will be held in honor of Gary at 2:00 p.m. Saturday September 22 in Summerall Chapel at The Citadel. Following the service, the interment of his ashes will take place at the columbarium at Grace Church Cathedral, 98 Wentworth Street, Charleston, S.C.∼Richard Black
Aurora, CO
Richard Gary Black Jr. age 73 of Aurora, Colorado passed away on July 30, 2018. Mr. Black was born on January 20, 1945 at his grandparents farm in Anderson, South Carolina. At the age of 12 he moved into the Epworth home, an orphanage in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from The Citadel, Charleston, S.C., class of 1966. He became a captain in the US Army, serving in Vietnam and earning the Purple Heart & Bronze Star Medals. He is survived by his wife Jeanette, his stepson Chad, his 2 girls Elizabeth & Catherine, his four grandchildren Kilah, Kai, Lillian & Chloe. A memorial service will be held in his honor at The Citadel Summerall Chapel at 2 pm Saturday Sep 22. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in his honor to either: The Epworth Children's Home or The Citadel Foundation.
Published in Anderson Independent-Mail on Sept. 21, 2018
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