Passing of Gary Duffey

rsmurray said:

A few words for Gary

I wanted to bring everybody together this morning to say a few words about Gary.

Many of us here knew Gary for a very long time. I first knew him through the industry nearly 20 years ago, long before he joined Rigby. He was one of those people who would come onto the booth at the shows, always with a smile, always with time for a conversation and very often with some fatherly words of advice.

That was just Gary. He cared about people.

When he eventually joined Rigby, he brought all of that with him. He became our man in America and did an enormous amount for this company there. He represented Rigby in exactly the way you would want someone to represent us - not simply selling rifles, but building friendships, looking after people and becoming a trusted face of Rigby to so many of our customers and friends.

But he was never just our American representative. He was part of this company and part of this family.

And I think today is a reminder of something very important about Rigby. We talk about being a family here, but it isn't just something we say. It's real. This is a tribe. We look after each other. We celebrate together, we struggle together and, on days like today, we grieve together. People come into this company from different countries, different backgrounds and different walks of life, but once you're part of Rigby, you're one of us. And that doesn't end when you retire or when you move on. Gary retired earlier this year, but he never stopped being one of us. He never stopped being part of this family. And he never will.

Gary was there for so many important moments in Rigby's story. He came over to the UK and threw himself into helping us with the 250th anniversary celebrations and, over the years, became part of the fabric of what we do. Many of us in this room have our own stories about him and our own reasons for loving him.

He was also very much part of my own family, which tells you something about the kind of relationships Gary built with people. He wasn't somebody who remained a colleague or a business acquaintance for very long. He became a friend.

Gary was one of the sweetest souls you could ever hope to meet. He was kind, gentle, patient and generous. He had time for people. He listened. He encouraged people. And he had that wonderful fatherly quality that made you feel that he genuinely cared about how you were getting on.

He was also a man of very deep faith. His faith was enormously important to him and I think it would be right this morning to remember him with something from the Bible.

There's a passage from the first letter to the Corinthians which, when you hear it, feels rather like a description of the qualities Gary brought into the lives of the people around him.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.”

I think everybody here who knew Gary will understand why those words feel appropriate.

We should be enormously grateful for everything Gary gave to Rigby, but much more importantly, grateful that we got to know him.

He was one of us.

We'll miss him enormously.

I'd like us just to take a moment together now, in silence, to remember Gary in whatever way feels right to each of us.

[Silence]

Thank you.

God bless you, Gary.

And I think Gary would want the Rigby show to go on.

Let's go and make some Rigbys.

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Colossians 3:23 (KJV) - and whatsoever ye do, do it heartil - Bible App

and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men

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