Gary P. Hanks

 WHITTIER, Calif. — Gary P. Hanks, 71, of Whittier, Calif., passed away peacefully on May 12, 2021, in Whittier.

A celebration of Gary’s life will be held at Salt Fork Center at Homer Lake on Tuesday, July 13, from 3 to 8 p.m. Please join us to celebrate Gary’s life by sharing stories and memories about Gary with family and friends.

Gary was born on March 16, 1950, in Champaign, the son of Chet and Myrl (Purselley) Hanks, and is survived by his wife of 31 years, Ana.

He is also survived by his sister, Sonja Hanks of Danville; nieces, Alice Rice and Sarah Evans; nephews, Jesse Evans and Joe Evans; six great-nephews; three great-nieces; two greatgreat- nephews; two great-great-nieces, all of Illinois; cousins, Prudence Hungate of Westminster, Calif., Clovis Hungate of New Mexico and Raleen Hungate of Oregon; mother-in-law, Gloria Garduno; sisters and brothers-in-law, Gloria and Dan Hernandez and Rose and Chuck Anderson; nephew, Daniel; and niece, Celeste, all from California, and lots more extended family.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Gary retired from IT from the County of Los Angeles in California. He grew up in the St. Joseph/ Homer communities and developed long-lasting friendships with many in the area, which he always cherished. He was a graduate of University High School, Normal, and attended the University of Illinois. Gary was a member of the California Association of Sunbeam Tiger Club (CAT) and the Corvette Club of Los Angeles and enjoyed engine rebuilding and design.

He enjoyed sports, especially basketball, riding motorcycles with buddies locally and in California, dirt bikes with friends from Idaho, attending NHRA Drag Racing with his buddy, Aaron Booher, and testing high-performance tires with his buddy, Steve.

Gary was very passionate about learning and researching his family’s genealogy and enthusiastically shared his findings with others. This led to the wonderful opportunity of meeting new-found family members in Indiana and across the country.

Memorials may be made to the donor’s choice