Gary Salata is/was an amazing son, caring father, passionate husband, and lifelong friend. Sadly, he was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive and rare form of cancer last month and joined his Heavenly Father on October 7th, 2020. He was surrounded by his loving family at the time of his passing.

Everyone  knew that Gary loved life, his family, God, and really anyone he ever met.

Gary is/was an amazing and loving, husband to Gail and a model dad to his sons,  Byron and Tyler. We are all  devastated by his passing at such a young age.

Gary would easily strike up conversations with anyone who was fortunate enough to come across his path.  People were guaranteed to leave the conversation with a smile knowing Gary genuinely cared about them.

If you live in the Rocklin area, you most likely saw Gary walking around town waving and talking to everyone  because he enjoyed being active and putting a smile on everyone's face. While he was walking, he often prayed for people on his prayer list.

Our family was trying to think of how to honor him and thought installing a memorial bench in the Sunset Whitney Recreation Area  in Rocklin, CA would be a great tribute. This way people will have a place to sit, talk, and make new friends.

Gary would also want to give you a few last thoughts:

1. Reach out to a family member, friend, or stranger and have a genuine conversation
2. Mend your strained/broken relationships and make a new friend.
3. Have balance with work/family/friends because he loved people and life is too short
4. Find your place of peace and go there to refresh your soul.  His favorite place was near water.
5. Find time to connect or reconnect your relationship with God through whatever means work for you