Gary Kanaga

Funeral services for Gary Kanaga will be 2:00 p.m. Monday, February 10, 2014, at the Waynoka United Methodist Church with Pastor Barbara Fyffe officiating. He will be in state at Marshall Funeral Home in Alva Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Then he will be at the Waynoka United Methodist Church from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m Monday. A private interment will be in the Waynoka Cemetery under the direction of Marshall Funeral Home of Waynoka. Gary Eldon Kanaga entered the gates of heaven on February 7, 2014, at Share Hospital in Alva, Oklahoma. He was 74 years, 4 months, and 13 days. Gary was born September 24, 1939, in Jetmore, Kansas, to Myrll E. and Grace Elizabeth (Hinkle) Kanaga. He graduated from Ness City High School at Ness City, Kansas, in 1957 and entered the United States Army upon graduation. He served for three years in the Army and served in several stations in Europe. After the service he was an insurance salesman in the state of Virginia. He then moved back to Kansas where he learned the masonry trade. He also worked as a meat cutter in Leota, Kansas. In 1969, he married Emma Jane Hull. They lived in Garden City, Kansas, while Gary was working in the masonry trade. In 1970, they moved to her parents ranch southeast of Waynoka to help her father who was sick. After the death of her father, they moved to Covington, Oklahoma, where Gary resumed his masonry business. In 1983, he formed Home Fellowship Ministries. This was a ministry that provided food, help with utilities, as well as spreading the word of God to people mainly in Oklahoma and Kansas. He was instrumental in sending seed corn overseas thru the help of UMCOR to third world countries. This seed was used by farmers to combat hunger. He also purchased and distributed hundreds of Bibles over the years to be given to those who needed one. He also distributed hundreds of pounds of flour and thousands of pairs of jeans to anyone who had need. He was always available to help a person in need and his first comment to people he met was, “How can I help you?” He had a beautiful voice and loved to sing at church, for weddings, and graduations. He also loved to work with youth and children. He was preceded in death by his father and mother, a brother, Lynn D. Kanaga, and two brothers-in-law, Elmer Tittel and Dale Randolph. Gary is survived by his wife, Emma J. Kanaga of Waynoka, a son, Sam Frakes and his wife, Georgette, of Oro Valley, Arizona, a daughter, Suzanne Truppa and her husband, Jerry, of Grants Pass, Oregon; two sisters, Evelyn Randolph of Lazbuddie, Texas, and Lillian Tittel of Scott City, Kansas; and a sister-in-law, Marguarite Kanaga of Ames, Iowa. Also surviving are grandchildren, great grandchildren, a host of nieces and nephews, other relatives and friends.

Gary Kanaga

September 24, 1939 - February 7, 2014