Gary Raymond Doble

Gary Raymond Doble was born on July 13, 1963 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother is Carol Zurcher Palmer and his father is Gary Raymond Doble Sr. Gary’s siblings are John Doble, Michael Doble, Tyler Bradshaw, Leslie Palmer, Dawn Palmer-Shell, and Michael Palmer. Gary’s wife is Grace Lin Szeto-Doble. His daughter is Kaitlyn Christine McDonald, and his sons are Trevor Lee Doble and Evan Lee Doble. Gary was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in August 2012. He fought valiantly and finally returned to God on Dec 7, 2012.

Gary grew up in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. After high school, he enlisted in the US Army in 1981 and served overseas in Germany. He received merits for good conduct, and for being a sharp shooter and weapons expert. He also had the opportunity to attend culinary school in Germany. After honorable discharge from the Army, Gary explored various career paths. He was a man of many trades; he could fix anything around the house and including some auto repairs. Gary was a sound technician for the heavy metal band Laden Saint. He went on to work as a commercial truck driver, construction worker, commercial sign builder, and sous chef. Eventually, he found his way back to serving his country as a federal law enforcement officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Department of Homeland Security.

Upon the birth of his daughter Kaitlyn in June 1989, Gary was inspired to devote his life to public service and began a career in law enforcement. He started out as a security guard at the Hyatt Newporter resort in Newport Beach, California. It was there that Gary met Grace. She was the hotel operator and dispatcher that sent him on his calls. He later became a K-9 officer for a private security firm that patrolled public housing neighborhoods in Orange County, California.

Gary and Grace married in September 1993. They moved to Arizona in the summer of 1996, and Gary became a Detention Enforcement Officer with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). In March 1999, Gary and Grace brought Trevor into the world. Evan followed in June 2002. Gary transitioned to Immigration Enforcement Agent with ICE in 2003 and was promoted to Deportation Officer in 2006. During his federal career, he eagerly took on collateral duties: SRT (Special Response Team) member, Facility Training Officer, defensive tactics and firearms instructor, disturbance control instructor, and Armourer.

Gary was a mentor and friend to all he worked with. He was an outstanding father and a devoted husband. He had passion for everything that he did, no matter how large, small, or trivial. He was the ultimate patriot - he loved his country, he loved God. He stated his religious view in Facebook as “I truly believe in God within my heart”. Gary – you are home now. We love you so much and will miss you. Thank you for touching our lives. You protected us and loved us. You are in our hearts always.

A Celebration of Life will be on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. at The Groves Church located at 2777 S. Gilbert Road, Chandler, AZ. 85249. Arrangements entrusted to Valley of the Sun Mortuary, to leave condolences visit www.valleyofthesunfuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers donations can be made in Gary's name to Wounded Warrior Project, www.woundedwarriorproject.org, which was an organization that is close to Gary's heart.