God rest your soul Garry Beasley.  I tried for years and years to contact Garry.  About 20 years ago, I found an address for Garry and sent him a long letter and  requested that that he contact me.  Like a very old fiend of mine Rick Turner, I'm over a decade late on writing this memorial.  Please forgive forgive me Garry.   My 28 year old daughter found this obituary for me while we were driving on a long trip.  I know in my heart that if Garry would have received my letter, that he would have responded.  I knew Garry for two years while he was studying at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro GA (1978-1980).  What a fascinating and highly intelligent person he was. As I write this, I am now 64 years old.  I have never wavered nor forgotten what a cherished friendship that we had.  As all of you know, Garry  was not your ordinary person.  I'll never forget the road trip that I took with him back to his Pekin Illinois home to retrieve his 1960's poster collection that he put on display at GSU.  He was such a sage person and I always sat on the edge of my chair during our conversations.  At the time, I was 18 & 19 years old and from rural South Georgia.  He opened up a new world for me with his highly detailed stories and anecdotes.  Garry was sometimes a private person, but on our visit to his home, he showed me his 1959 Pink Bonneville along with his 1960 Harley Davidson.  Also, he shared much of his vast collection of various rock and roll memorabilia. I could go on for hours with memories of my old, old friend Garry.  It would be remiss of me if I didn't touch on his music.  He played a 12 string guitar and the piano with passion.  To this day, I have never heard anyone in his own genre.  I know that in all likelihood this will never be read by anyone, but it soothes my soul to know that he is now in heaven.  I pray that I will someday meet him there. What an amazing person with so much influence on my life.
Turner Wood 423-298-4901

I just discovered the news of Garry's passing yesterday (7.17.16), and although I'm 3 years late I still wanted to add a few comments on such an amazing person.  Some people can have a profound influence on others, and this is true in relation to Garry.  His friendship was a huge part of my life, and although the time we spent was very short his impact was prodigious.  I see his face and hear his voice clearly some 40 years later.  I was a freshman at Georgia Southern, sharing a room in Oxford Hall with one of my oldest friends, and we were music students.  We first met Garry in a music theory class in September, 1978.  Garry began hanging out with us, and our bond quickly became a strong one.  We discovered so many mutual interests...music of course, but also the German language.  My roommate and I had studied German in high school and we continued those studies into college, and Garry was quite advanced in the language.  With this mutual bond we became fast friends, and he joined our group of comrades effortlessly.  Garry was 10 years older than any of our group, and had seen and done so much more than any of us.  He loved old cars, and I recall several road trips in a classic green Lincoln that was his pride and joy. As has been mentioned, he had a collection of amazing retro concert posters from the late 60s.  What hasn't been mentioned is how he got that collection, he told us he traded an antique car for them.  I recall visiting him once in Brannen Hall, and picking up his 12-string Ovation guitar I got firsthand experience with his unique style of tuning!  Another great memory I have is a road trip to Savannah with Garry.  My former roommate had transferred to North Texas State, and during the drive Garry and I recorded our conversation in a kind of audio letter to him.  I recall listening to that cassette before we mailed it, laughing so hard we were in tears.  Garry was also responsible for one of my best moments...he got me in backstage at a concert to meet Steve Morse (The Dregs, Kansas, Deep Purple) who was my idol at the time.  Wow...just wow...what a memory!  As the years passed Garry departed and we lost touch, but he was *never* forgotten.  He appeared once in Summer 1981, gracing us with a short visit and taking a picture of our core group of 4...a few weeks later I got a letter with the picture included, and he wrote "bless 'em" on the back of that picture in his inimitable penmanship...I still treasure that photo.  The last I heard from Garry was a year or two later...a postcard from Haiti.  He wrote "voodoo is near, hungry eyes touch my heart".  I feel so lucky to have known Garry, and today I feel a tremendous loss.  I've searched for him a few times over the years unsuccessfully, but yesterday my final search had results, albeit sad ones.  Here's to you Garry, my very good friend.  You made such a profound impact on my life, and you will live forever in my heart, mind, and soul.

It's been 45 years since I've seen Gary, but have fond memories of hanging together through high school. His sense of humor will be missed.

Rita sorry to read of Garry's passing.  I'll always remember us kids playing in your parent's yard, roller skating and how awed I was the first time I watched him play the piano.  My thoughts and prayers are with you and the rest of the family.

I have known Garry since I was 10 - 11 years old.  When I first met Garry he was "dating" my sister for a while.  Later during my teenage years my brother and Garry became friends.  Then Garry lived with a woman and her children whom I later befriended.  Garry was a very intelligent man and multi-talented.  He was also misunderstood at times.  Over the years, my husband and I often ran into Garry and shared old times and created new ones occasionally.  We will always remember our good times and miss him.  RIP

We met Gary when we had a flea market at the fruit stand across the street from his home.
He would often come over and spend hours visiting with us. He also would bring over food or invite us over to dinner. He loved to cook and was proud of his chili.
He had a special bond with our children: Shawn Jr. and Dylan and always greeted them with a bear hug.
Gary shared his poetry with us and we fondly remember him reading passages out loud to us.
After the flea market, we would run into Gary at the food pantry or any number of stores in Manito. It was always good to stop and visit with him for a while. He was intelligent beyond compare and always had great stories to share.
We would love it if whoever has become the keeper of his poetry, if they would allow us to make a photo copy of them for our personal memories. If this is possible, please contact us via our email.
Friday was a very solemn day for us - we lost 2 dear friends within hours of  each other. If you  take a look at the list of current memorials on this site - we were also good friends with John Swaney. We have never lost 2 friends in a single day before. It's and experience I don't want to have again.
Unfortunately, we will not be available to attend his memorial on Friday - we will be out of town, but we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Garry was a nice guy in high school. I also haven't seen him in years but he was very friendly to everyone. I know his family will miss him very much.

I'd first met Garry through mutual friends Mike 'Sully' Sullivan and Barry Sotherland. Mike and I were musicians playing in a band together and Barry was a close friend of ours. One day they brought Garry along and introduced me to him. I was immediately struck by his personal aura - he was one of those cats that you knew right away was a true original. He wasn't one to follow the herd so to speak, he was his own person - very unique. And those eyes of his - very deep piercing eyes. When he would look you in the eyes and ask you a question it was almost unnerving, like you felt you were expected to say something very intelligent and well thought out. Like Sully, when Garry entered a room his mere presence drew attention to him. He'd heard right away that I was a guitarist, and I knew that he was a musician as well. We got straight into jamming and asking each other to play some things for each other so that we could kind of sort out where we were coming from musically. I knew Garry had played in The Blockades with some friends of mine, Don Sidell, Ralph Murphy, Dave Eitenmiller and Tom Lawson, but that had been a few years earlier. By the time I met Garry he wasn't at all into doing any cover songs like he'd done with The Blockades, it was strictly original music for him. 'No man, I don't do anyone else's music, just things I write myself.' In those days that was pretty impressive, especially to me, because I was one of the only people on the local scene writing original music. Garry played some of his music for me, mostly on a 12 string guitar that he had set up for his style, which was reminiscent of a cross between Stephen Stills and Sean Phillips. But very uniquely Garry. He didn't use a standard guitar tuning, he'd tune the guitar to a chord to get that drone sort of thing happening along with what he was doing melody-wise. I found it very mature and cutting edge for those days. Garry and I became friends. I watched him play piano and completely lose himself in his music for long periods of time - as if everything in the world would stop for him but the music he was into. He was into a deep and sort of serious thing, while I was into an alpha sort of wild thing at the time, and he took to calling me Jimi Isenberg. I don't think he ever did call me Mike or Michael. There would be many late night cruises that sometimes involved Garry's presence, drives way out of town into the countryside so that we could pick up Clyde Clifford's Beaker Street on KAAY out of Little Rock, Arkansas - a weird, tripped out underground radio station that remained light years ahead of it's time, and introduced us to music we otherwise wouldn't have heard until much later. We all loved Clyde. One thing always stuck with me where Garry was concerned - he was the epitome of the true and pure hippie ethic. Very mellow and very hip - and he'd never leave his house without his patchouli oil. 'No, no man, I can't leave yet. I can't find my patchouli oil. Gotta have my patchouli.' He had a Gibson cherry red Melody Maker electric guitar I always loved to play, and he would freely loan it to me for months at a time. It was almost like he wanted me to have it. I'd even ask him 'Don't you want this back? It's been a long time. I would think you'd miss it." And he'd say 'No man, wail on that thing. Somebody should be playing it. And that somebody is you Jimi Isenberg.' Time kept on ticking into the future as the song says, and it was around the mid 70's when I last saw Garry. He was still the same person, though his hair was much shorter than in the 60's when we'd first met up. I think the last thing he ever said to me was 'You've come a long way with your music. Keep it up. A lot of guys would have given it up by now. Never stop rockin' my friend.' That last line, 'Never stop rockin' has become a catch phrase for me, one that I always use to encourage young musicians. I never forgot my friend Garry Beasley. He really left quite an impression on me, one I'll never forget. And one thing will remain true: until Garry and I meet again in the great beyond, I will honor his request - I will never stop rockin'. Rest in peace Garry. I will see to it that your memory lives on in the annals of central Illinois rock and roll history.

Rest in peace, old friend...My life is richer for having known you. You are now free from mortal bonds. Peace, brother..<3


I knew Beas in high school and ran with him the summer of '68. It was a wild ride--music, rappin', trying to be cool. He wore that SRV style hat and bells that must've been a foot wide.  He was traveling back then, and he'd always have some far out story about a rock festival or a happening someplace down South or out West.  He was a worldly guy for only being 18.  I think he influenced me to get out and see the world.  Thanks, Beas.  I had a blast.

RITA, I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THE LOSS OF YOUR BROTHER.I SAW HIM A LOT IN HIS LAST MONTHS AND HE ALWAYS KNEW ME. I REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE KIDS, HE WAS SO SMART IN SCHOOL, IT JUST CAME NATURALLY AND WE WOULD GET "MAD" CAUSE WE HAD TO STRUGGLE TO GET PASSING GRADES, AND HE WAS STRAIGHT "A". GOD BLESS YOU AND TAKE CARE.

I remember Gary as a fun loving joker,and a very kind guy.R.I.P.ka4juz

Garry was one of the most exceptional people I ever met. 8 years my senior, he had re-enrolled at GSU and graduated Class of '80. He bunked on our floor at Brannen Hall, and quickly became a point of interest owing to his age and butt-length, razor-straight blonde hair. Never was more a person so sure of who he was, who he wasn't, and at ease in any situation. From Hell's Angels to high society (he cleaned up well), Garry found a way to communication without fear or judgement in any environment. Passionate, memorable, opinionated, intense. He was an incredible self-taught guitar and piano player. He won a school talent show playing his own piano composition WHAT'S IN APPEARANCE. I recall the bass line vividly, and his manic, skinny frame, pounding at the keys as with flesh hammers seeking to drive them through the stage floor and beyond. Two distinctive things in his possession were a collection of Fillmore SF Rock Music Posters from the '60s, and an autography book with personally collected signatures from anyone you could name from the era. He spoke of the time he met Bob Dylan, asking for his signature. Bob looked askance at him and said, "Don't you mean autograph? Who aren't going to be writing and checks are you?" It was with great regret that I discovered Garry's demise today. I have often searched for him over the years even though I knew it would be futile given his paranoia. But I reason he could not stop an obituary being written. I'm very sad to learn of his passing. However, I am gratified to learn something of his life from the last 30+ years since we parted ways. I'm sure he is at the foot of God giving him an earful on what comes before the afterlife. Rest in peace.

Last evening, I was going threw a letter box, and came across a large envelop of poems & letters written by Garry. It brought back a flood of wonderful memories. Many yrs have passed since & I often wondered what he was up to in life. I had moved from Naperville,Il to Colo. & then to CA. This morning I looked on line, to see if I might locate him. Just to connect & say Hello. He asked, in those letters,to periodically keep in touch with a letter or photo.I was meaning to go threw those boxes, but never got around to it. I am glad to have the knowledge of what has become of him. Thankfully for online services such as this.I have to smile and laugh when I think of our crazy youth, & that wonderful smile. He was one of a kind.I met him threw music & he is now in music of the most divine. My heartfelt love to his family. Kimberly 

OBITUARY

Garry R Beasley

September 15, 1950 – May 4, 2013

Preston-Hanley Funeral Home & Crematory

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