Gary John “G.J.” Cayer was born May 24, 1936 at home, on the family ranch at North Fork Burns Creek and died in Billings, MT at Canyon Creek Memory Care Community on Dec. 3, 2017 at the age of 81.
He was born to Herb and Othelia Cayer. They lived in the North Fork Burns Creek Valley on a horse ranch. Gary was an early arrival and his father and mother were quite surprised as Herb was away on a horse buying trip and Othelia was at home visiting with her sister. The little cowboy had some problems because of his early arrival but with determination his mother worked hard to help his health improve.
The little buckaroo was very active once he started to thrive. He was never one to sit still and loved to run all over the place. His early social life was spent playing with his cousins and the few neighbors in the area. Gary loved playing cowboys and pretending he had a gun, which was fulfilled when he was given his first Winchester at, the age of 5. This rifle brought him much pleasure, when hunting magpies. He used the bounty money to buy more .22 shells for his little single-shot Winchester Model 03. He moved on up to bigger game after he shot his first deer at the age of eleven. The ranch his parents owned kept the family busy. Gary along with brother, Conley and sister, Pamela worked hard along with their parents to get the land paid for in the 1940s. Gary's love of haying and seeding continued throughout his work on the ranch/farm. He attended Dawson county rural schools during grade school and graduated from Lambert high school. Once he was done with his formal education he moved on to work for local farmers and he even worked a couple years in the timber in the Livingston, MT area. He worked campaigns at Holly Sugar in Sidney, MT for many years. Gary went custom harvesting in the summer where he met his wife, Phyllis in Kiowa, KS. During their 53 years of marriage they had 3 children Stephanie, SJ, and Codi. In their later years Gary and Phyllis enjoyed traveling throughout the vast state of Montana and going to gun shows. Gary loved to read but his greatest love was reloading ammunition and collecting guns. After Gary's health began to fail he became part of the community at Canyon Creek Memory Care in Billings, MT. He resided there until his death.
Gary is survived by: his wife, Phyllis; daughter, Stephanie Cayer and life partner Victoria Frazer, Concord, CA; son, S.J. (Pamela) Cayer, Savage, MT; daughter, Codi (Juergen) Kanngiesser, Portland, OR; grandsons, Laramie Kyhl, Wyatt, Garrett and Casey Cayer; his brother & wife, Conley & Shirley Cayer, Sidney, MT; niece, Georgette (Chris) Huravitch, and brother-in-law Gale Drewry, Lewistown, MT.
Gary was preceded in death by: his parents, Herb & Othelia Cayer; in-laws Pete & Mary Starne; and sister, Pamela Cayer Drewry.