A fundraiser for a fun guy, “a caring guy, a loving guy,” is slated to happen on July 1 honoring Gary Clement who helped others until the day he died in a traffic collision a week ago.
Gary Clement, 68, of Canyon Country died June 14 in a fatal crash that happened shortly after 9:35 p.m. on June 14 on Sierra Highway near Linda Vista Street, north of Campus Exit at the College of the Canyons campus in Canyon Country.
A fundraiser is scheduled for the avid motorcyclist at Route 66 Classic Grill on Soledad Canyon Road, near Luther Drive in Canyon Country beginning at 6 p.m. on July 1.
“He was Gary C. in recovery,” said fundraiser organizer Kelly Pitre. “When he walked into a room that’s how people knew him – Gary C. in recovery.
Gary Clement, 24 years sober, loved his wife Cheri, she said, loved his motorcycle and loved his Chihuahua named Dolly which he carried everywhere and even had fitted with a tiny motorcycle helmet.
“He loved everybody. He cared for everybody,” Pitre said. “When my husband committed suicide and Gary came to the service, when I saw his face, his face is what got me through it.
“If you called him, he was there. He was so loving,” she said. “He was just a good man. He loved Jesus. He touched so many lives.”
Gary and Cheri, together, helped everyone. Gary loved animals, so does Cheri.
“I talked to her today (Tuesday) and she’s going through the motions,” Pitre said, of Gary Clement’s widow.
Cheri’s brother, Donald Chandler, said of Gary : “He was well-liked and he was real religious.”
When a shooting in February 2015 claimed the life of Johnnie Greenback and almost killed Johnnie’s father Sonny Greenback, it was Gary and his wife who immediately comforted a man hurting over the death of his son and the arrest of his daughter.
Gary and Cheri didn’t hesitate to help – they brought Sonny Greenback dinner.
“We were talking about this whole thing and I passed out,” Greenback told The Signal at the time, reflecting on the couple. “I was trying to talk and I was so overwhelmed, I started crying.”
On the night of the fatal crash this June, Gary Clement was riding a 2008 Harley Davidson motorcycle northbound on Sierra Highway in the number lane, when he was hit by car.
Investigators with the California Highway Patrol are investigating the crash.
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