Gary Shotts was born and raised right here in our sweet, little town we call home. He worked for Helmerich and Payne for 22 years. That is the life he breathed… at least two weeks out of the month. He loved and enjoyed his job as a tool pusher in the oil field.
If you knew him though, you would know he had a deeper passion. And that was hunting and fishing; his two daughters and his grandchildren. Gary passed away September 3, 2018. Even though he is not physically here doesn’t mean his presence isn’t. It’s everywhere and it shows. There was never really a time that I don’t remember being with my daddy that we weren’t hunting or fishing. I can’t say that as a little girl I enjoyed t he 4-5 a.m. early morning wakeups, but I would do anything to get that time back. I’m thankful for everything he taught me and the time we had with him.
He left a stamp on his girls and grandkids.And he left big shoes to fill. I said stamp, but a stamp can easily be removed with a little water and a paper towel, but the Shotts blood runs deep and is more like a tattoo that can never be erased. Daddy knew every time his girls were in the deer stand. He would always text or call whispering, wondering if we had a shot— when he could finally figure out how to work his phone. He loved the thrill, the patience and the peace. The art of sneaking into a blind in the pitch dark through frost covered leaves under your feet, the satisfying technique and devotion of calling up your own turkey and that shaky feeling you get when you hear that tom gobble…. He definitely passed it down.
Seeing our daddy’s old newspaper clippings from the 70s and 80’s makes me so proud and I think of how proud he would be of us and our kids. I could just see him right now blowing our phones up or busting the door down to get Sadie Sutton’s and Shepards’ highlights of their hunts. We just thought he loved us, but that would have been a whole different deal with his grandbabies. He would have to know every little detail. My husband Spencer and I share the same love, and he reminds me a lot of my daddy. We spend a lot detail of our time either here or in the delta, planting and preparing land for the love of the hunt but at this point we get more joy out of watching our kids, the fellowship with friends and then seeing them share that love with their kids.
Speaking of fellowship, Gary devoted the rest of his life to God. On any given Sunday, you could spot him around 10:30 going through town in his old Thunderbird or his Corvette heading to D’Lo Baptist Church. My sister and I were both there the day he was baptized, it was amazing.
The legend truly does live on, and we love keeping, cherishing and passing the memories down.
