Gary Gene Matice was born on August 20, 1942, at Keokuk, Iowa. He was an only child born to Maxwell Joseph and Hazel Lee Dunsworth Matice. Gary graduated from Hamilton Elementary School at Hamilton, Illinois and Hamilton High School. While in high school he was a pitcher on the baseball team and played a coronet in the high school jazz band. Gary then continued his schooling at Davenport Barber College in Davenport, Iowa from where he graduated in 1961. Through a mutual friend Gary met Nancy Karen Hanan and on September 3, 1961, they were united in marriage at Keokuk. Gary and Karen made it through the early lean years of their marriage raising their two children, Sheri Lynn and Troy Alan, and enjoyed sharing their activities together as a family. Gary was a barber at Tulip City Barber Shop for Henry Roush in Pella, Iowa from 1962 until 1973. In 1973 he became a mechanic for Vermeer Sales of Iowa and later worked in the parts department until he retired in August of 2004. Gary and Karen made the decision together to enjoy life while they could even before they retired. Mechanics was more than a way of living for Gary. For several years he ran Enduro Go-Kart Racing with Charles Koopman, Howard Duinink, Dale Coop and Sid De Haan. Gary had run several marathons at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and they enjoyed snowmobiling and camping at Roberts Creek near Pella. They began boating at Lake Red Rock on the Des Moines River, at the Lake of the Ozarks, and with friends on the Ohio River. Gary had begun studying and playing golf in the early 60's. Since 2005 Gary had worked in golf cart maintenance as well being a golf ball retriever at Dogwood Hills Golf Resort at Osage Beach, Missouri. He enjoyed the friendships made there as much as playing in the golf league. Gary and Karen thoroughly enjoyed the time they spent together and by themselves at Osage Beach. They were planning to travel there on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009, when Gary passed away unexpectedly at the age of 67 years enroute to the Pella Regional Health Center that morning. Gary leaves behind his wife, Karen of Pella; his daughter, Sheri L. Matice of Otley, Iowa; his son Troy A. Matice and his wife, Jami (Johnson) of Pella and their two children: Kayla Renee Matice of Cedar Falls, Iowa and Lane Alan Matice at home; his father, Max Matice, a resident in the Long Term Care Unit at the Pella Regional Health Center; a sister-in-law: Vicki (Hanan) Roller of Pella and a brother-in-law, Jim Hanan and his wife, Glenda of Keokuk .Gary was preceded in death by his mother, Hazel Matice, who passed away June 13, 1997 and a brother-in-law, Rey Roller. Gary was baptized at the First Christian Church in Hamilton, Illinois and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Pella, Iowa.


Memorials may be designated for the First Baptist Church in Pella, Iowa

Van Dyk- Duven Funeral Home