Eastern Kentucky University

From St.Camillus, Gary attended Eastern Kentucky University.  At Eastern, he was a very popular, well-liked student, he was a friend to everyone. Gary continued to perform whenever he was asked throughout his college life! When Gary was asked about St.Camillus Academy and Eastern, this is what he had to say:  "I enrolled in St.Camillus when I was only five and a half. You had to be seven years old to enroll in the public schools and that was one of the main reasons I didn't go to Corbin's Public Schools. 

Tony Lanham 

One of my good friends from Corbin was Tony Lanham (deceased). Tony and I were classmates and friends throughout Grade School, High School, and College. Tony and I remained friends throughout his life. Tony was a very good athlete throughout school and his life! However, I was sort of a later bloomer, kind of small for my age and didn't play sports because I was too busy singing. I guess I was sort of a nerd, but then again, I thought I was a lover and not a fighter, haha. When I was a freshman in high school I was about five feet seven inches tall. When I graduated from high school, I was six feet two and weighed about 140 pounds".

While at Eastern Gary performed at a college hangout and restaurant called "Specks" and had help from Frank and JoAnn Nassida (owners of Specks)!  Gary had this to say about the Nassida's and Specks:  "I may have not been able to finish college had it not been for their support. They hired "The Maroons" and me to play at SPECK'S and they also fed us well. I recently saw a menu from Specks at the EKU reunion a while back and you could get a hot dinner for .75 cents, a burger and fries was .50 cents. Ahh, the good ole days".

Lee Majors at WEKY Radio Station

He went on to talk about a famous person from Eastern; "Probably one of the most famous people to attend  Eastern was Harvey Lee Yeary, better known as Lee Majors. He was two ahead of me but we were friends and crossed paths thru the years.  Several years after college and after Lee Majors became famous, he was in Lexington and my sister, with whom I was sharing an apartment, met Lee and some other friends at a night club.  My name came up and my sister ended up bringing Lee by the apartment to say hello. We all went to Denny's for a late night breakfast and a great time, remembering old times at Eastern University and Kentucky, since Lee was from Middlesboro (near Corbin), Ky."  

Gary spent much time at the local radio station WEKY in Richmond, just hanging out and visiting with the announcers and DJ's.  In fact, the "B" side "Just Checkin" an instrumental by the Maroons was recorded in the studios of WEKY radio station, The recordings were made after the station signed off the air at midnight and took until about 4 to 4:30 am before John Sullivan signed the station back on the air at 5:00 am!  The "A" side  "At The End of Each Day"   was recorded at the "garage studio" of Cecil Jones in Lexington, KY. 

The Maroons

He Graduated from Eastern University in 1963 and enrolled in the University of Kentucky Law School, at which time Gary formed the band called "The Embers" and continued to perform all over Kentucky, at fraternities, sororities, and sock hops, anywhere they could perform.