It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Gary Grant Lott, beloved husband of Rebecca Sue, caring father to his 3 sons: Charles Paul, Michael Martin, and Stephen Bradley, and doting grandfather to his grandchildren: Cassandra, Gabriella, Eleanor, McKenzie, and Emma. He found his everlasting peace on the 2nd of October 2026 at the age of 75 and will be remembered for his generosity, his wisdom, his kindness, and his selfless devotion to community, faith, and family.

Gary was born in Littlefield, Texas on the 3rd of September 1951, to his father Grant and his mother Leecy, and grew up in Springlake with his 3 siblings: Sharon, Barbara, and Brad. He spent many of his younger days the patient victim of his older sisters’ playful teasing, as well as pretending to be cowboys with his younger brother, and working in his father’s hardware and welding shop or out in the farm fields in Portales.

Throughout his life, Gary maintained an unquenchable thirst for learning, which led him to pursue science from a young age, placing at multiple science fairs, and eventually earning him a spot at Texas Tech University, where he majored in Psychology. It was here that he met his lifelong partner and wife, Rebecca Sue, who, likewise, is an avid lover of science. While she became a teacher after graduation, Gary continued his psychological studies at the University of Texas at Arlington in the newly formed Master’s program, where he published his thesis entitled “Voluntary Control of Heart Rate: A Biological Systems Approach”.

Upon completion of his M.A. in Psychology, he worked as the laboratory director in the Psychiatry Department at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, before deciding to pursue law. It was during his legal courses at Southern Methodist University that he met his mentor and professor, Mike McCollum, who he became partners with after he was awarded his Juris Doctor and passed the state bar of Texas in 1982. Gary would go on to publish again that same year, this time on the topic of American Constitutional Criminal Procedure, before eventually opening his own law practice, where he specialized in business incorporations, estate planning, water law, elder law, and real estate for over 40 years.

Gary and Becky put down roots in Arlington, Texas, and those roots went deep, as they quickly entrenched themselves as pillars of their spiritual home in North Davis Church of Christ. He cultivated a multitude of lifelong friendships and strengthened bonds between his church and the community around it. He took on leadership positions in the church, serving as a deacon in the charity ministry, and found one of the most important callings of his life as the chairman of the board for Arlington Hearts and Hands Food Pantry, where he oversaw the feeding of hundreds of thousands of families in need during his longstanding tenure. Not one to simply delegate, Gary was directly involved at every level of the operation: He filled bags, stacked cans, folded clothes, drove shopping vans, developed the IT systems core to the intake screening and compliance reporting processes, built walk in coolers, repaired AC units, led volunteer teams, coordinated schedules, balanced budgets, and still had the physical and emotional bandwidth to provide counseling and prayer to those seeking guidance, often leaving Sunday service to meet the needs of strangers rather than turn them away. Truly, and in the most literal sense, the Hearts and Hands organization has his fingerprints in every brick.

Gary had an enormous heart for children, and anyone that ever sat with him in public for an extended amount of time could attest to this. If there was a baby within line of sight, he would make funny faces and do whatever he could to earn a laugh or a smile while he was able to hold their attention. This included using what limited and poorly translated languages he knew (or thought he knew) as a playful threat of impending tickles. In his opinion, there was no greater source of innocence than a child, and no greater potential good than to invest one’s time and effort in making them feel happy and safe.

It was, of course, no surprise that, when he had children of his own, he set out with his close church friends to charter BSA Troop 630, where he served as Assistant Scout Master to the venerable Dr. TJ Walker. Together, they shaped the lives of dozens of young men, guiding them in the ways of outdoor survival, first aid, and citizenship. He was a grounded leader, providing safety, stability, and wisdom to the boys under his care, and was respected by his fellow adult leaders as well, earning their trust at the district level as a council committee chairman, and being chosen to sit on many Eagle Scout Boards of Review. He was especially proud to have all three of his sons achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, and to be inducted to the Order of the Arrow. He also had his own laurels in the Boy Scouts, and earned his wood badge, one of the few individual achievements the organization offers to adult leaders.

This award was especially fitting as, among his numerous hobbies, was carpentry. In fact, if you ask his sons what scent memory reminds them of Gary, their answer will be “the smell of Aristocrat pipe tobacco and freshly cut sawdust”. Gary possessed a deep love for the craft and could almost always be found sitting in his workshop, pipe in hand, planning the next project, drafting a new design, or carefully piecing together yet another thoughtful gift. He may not have ever sold a single piece, but hundreds either received or used his handy work at some point. Gary loved giving gifts, and so he taught each of his sons the woodworking trade through a very specific tradition: his annual Christmas projects. Each year, beginning in November, he would lead his family in the design, prototyping, manufacture, assembly, sanding, staining, painting, and decoration of hundreds of bowls, trivets, letter trays, puzzle boxes, wooden toys, bread boards, and more. Then, in the nights leading up to Christmas, he would drive all over the metroplex, his children dressed as elves, as they shuttled gifts to doorsteps and delivered well wishes to his friends and family.

He once wrote in his own father’s eulogy that it was a difficult thing to describe another man’s life. That it was hard to adequately discern what was relevant, what was appropriate to share, and what of your own limited perspective could be relied upon. Still, as he made his argument in the case for his father, so will I:

Gary was a man of grounded discernment and of measured paradoxes. He was a man of science and pragmatism, while also holding an unshakable faith in the Lord and the potential good in others. He was a diligent advocate to his friends and those in need, while often rejecting the spotlight and rewards for his own hard work. He was a man that sought to understand the human condition, while actively a part of the human experiment of life - both the observer, and the observed. He was a man of advanced age in physical form and in the wisdom only experience can earn, while keeping alive the tender heart and wonder of a child making mischief and laughing loudly as he played.

I believe he knew that there was a special magic in these supposed contradictions. That the only way to stand tall, was to be willing to reach down and pick up your fellow man. That in order to get ahead in life, you need to put others ahead of you. And that true knowledge comes from understanding the uncertainty of the world around us, yet still having the bravery to explore those paradoxes with earnest curiosity and an open mind.

My brothers and I were raised to believe that if we were mature enough to ask the question, that we were mature enough to deserve an honest answer.

In my heart, I believe he has finally received the answer to the questions he posed here on earth: He is there, with his father, appreciating the grand tapestry of life’s interconnected threads, looking down at the beautiful pattern he wove together with each of us.

“Perhaps, this is, after all, the true significance of any man’s life – the fact that he is connected and intertwined with so many others. That each man’s experience and relationship with another is part of a connected tapestry of all life. Each man, a thread helping to form patterns of family, extended family, church, community, and mankind in general.”

-Gary Lott, 3/16/2000

Visitation will be held at North Davis Church of Christ, at 1601 N Davis Dr, Arlington, TX 76012, on the 9th of October, starting at 6PM. 

A celebration of life will be held at the same location the following day, the 10th of October, beginning at 11AM. All are welcome to pay their respects and celebrate a life well-lived.

In lieu of flowers, the family would ask that a donation be given to one of his life’s greatest works and personal calling: The Arlington Hearts & Hands Food Pantry.