Garry W. Bixby, 88, of Cedar Falls, died Tuesday, December 24, 2024, at Clarksville Nursing and Rehab. He was born May 5, 1936, in Waterloo, the son of Carlyle and Dorothy Pierce Bixby. He attended Edison, Sloan Wallace & West High School, graduating in 1954. He was very involved in football, basketball & track.

He married Janet "Jan" Larson on Nov. 5, 1954, at the Little Brown Church in Nashua; she preceded him in death in 2006.

Garry worked for Titus Manufacturing for 13 years and then was transferred to Terrell, TX, and moved back to Waterloo in 1968, where he worked at Peoples Bank and Trust for 13 years; In 1982, Garry and Dick Hansen purchased the Evansdale Bank with a group of investors & later changed the name to First Security State Bank. He worked there for 17 years until his retirement in 1998. Garry and Jan moved to Auburndale, Florida, in 1999 & thoroughly enjoyed retirement. She passed away on January 25, 2006. He lived there until moving back to Waterloo on May 5, 2020. Before moving back, he looked after many of the park residents' (relatives & friends) properties & made sure that all was good. If they needed work done that he couldn't do himself, he would call someone to come & do the work for them.

While living in Florida, Garry worked at Disney World for 3 years, allowing his kids and grandkids to get into the parks at little or no cost. After leaving Disney, he went to work for Enterprise Rent-A-Car for 3 years. Then started at the Polk County Tollway & won several awards for attendance & customer service. He worked there for 8 years until moving back to Iowa in 2020.

Throughout his life, Garry was very active in sports; playing, officiating & watching. When he came back to Iowa from Texas, Ron Sturch asked him to join him as a football official & they continued that for 30 years. Garry was inducted into the IHSAA Officials Hall of Fame in 1997.

During his life, he also played golf & fastpitch softball. While in Texas, he played on a men's club team that went to Houston, TX & played a team from Stran Steel. Their pitcher was inducted into the Softball Hall of Fame. Garry was a member of the Sunrise Exchange Club, and one of the projects they funded & built was the Sunrise Petting Zoo on the National Dairy Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo. He sat on the upper platform and painted the blades on the windmill. The petting zoo is still open.

He is survived by a daughter, Rinda (Brad) Bergen of Hudson; a son, Randy (Lesli) Bixby of Phoenix, AZ; a daughter-in-law, Angie Bixby-Ellermann of Parkersburg; seven grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and a brother, Paul (Sue) Bixby of Cedar Falls.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife, a daughter, Roxanne Bixby, in infancy, a son, Reece Bixby, and a sister, Marlene Troyer.

In Garry's words, "I have been privileged to have great family and friends over my lifetime. My time has come to go and be with all that have gone before me."

Services will be held at 12:00 p.m. Saturday, January 4, 2024, at Locke at Tower Park, with visitation from 11:00 a.m. until service time. Inurnment will be held at a later date in the Garden of Memories Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the family where a memorial fund will be established.

Locke at Tower Park , 4140 Kimball Ave. Waterloo, Iowa is in charge of arrangements 319-233-3136.