Gary Joe Booher was born to Eldon Cole and Mary Gertrude Booher in a rented farmhouse near Allerton, Iowa, a small town just a few miles over the Iowa-Missouri border. He has a younger brother, Dean, and an older sister, Carolyn.
Gary attended Sunnyside Country School near their farm, but Eldon bought a farm near Lineville, Iowa, and Gary switched to Jefferson Center Country School.
Around age 11, Gary and his brother Dean became two of the first members of the local 4-H club, the Jefferson Boosters.
On the farm, Gary and Dean hung a basketball hoop in the hay mow of one of the farm’s barns, then installed a baseball backstop in a pasture. What little spare time they had was spent playing pick-up games with their country friends and classmates.
Gary attended Lineville High School and played third base for the Indians’ baseball team. He graduated in the spring of 1954 with 16 classmates.
That fall, Gary enrolled at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now, Truman State) and pledged to the social fraternity, Alpha Kappa Lambda. He also met his future bride, Rita Bell Hinshaw, from Richland, Iowa.
On March 3, 1956, Gary and Rita were married in Kirksville, Missouri. Over the next three years, they welcomed their two daughters, Dana and Lisa, and a son, Steven.
During the 1956-57 school year, Gary obtained a temporary teaching certificate and taught all subjects to eighth graders in the Clarksville, Iowa, school district.
The following year, Gary and Rita moved to Corydon, Iowa, and Gary taught two subjects he disliked, English and Math, at Wayne County Community School’s junior high. The following year, the Boohers returned to Clarksville, where Gary would eventually be promoted to elementary principal and where they would stay for the next 21 years.
Clarksville is a small German farming town located in the northeast part of the state. At the school, Gary also coached girls’ basketball and served as an assistant football coach. He also enjoyed the outdoors and spent time fishing and golfing. He took yearly fishing trips with friends and fellow teachers to northern Minnesota and even into Canada. He also helped Clarksville build a 9-hole golf course and country club just south of the town.
In 1981, Gary and Rita moved to Branson, Missouri, where he served as Elementary Principal. In 1992, Branson Elementary received the high honor of being named a Gold Star School of Missouri. In 1994, Gary was named a Distinguished Elementary Principal by the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals.
In the late 1990s, Gary was promoted to Assistant Superintendent before he retired in 2000.
On March 3, 2006, Gary and Rita celebrated 50 years of marriage. On Oct. 22, 2012, Rita Booher died after years of battling breast cancer. Throughout her illness, Gary served as her caregiver and often wouldn’t leave her side. He did the same for his oldest daughter, Dana, who suffered from kidney disease and eventually passed away on Nov. 30, 2016.
During his long life, Gary was a son, brother, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was also an inspiring teacher and coach. Nearly all of his students remember and reflect on the impact Mr. Booher had on their lives.
Gary spent the past couple of years at Living Community. He regularly attended his great-grandsons’ baseball games and watched his great-granddaughter play the cello in her school’s orchestra.
He also loved riding around St. Joseph, marveling at the architecture and history of the town. He often remarked that St. Joe was a fascinating town and he wished he had moved here sooner.
Gary died in his sleep on Saturday, Feb. 7. He had just celebrated his 90th birthday.
Natural Farewell under the direction of Meierhoffer Funeral Home & Crematory.
