Gary Wayne Voyles

Gary Wayne Voyles passed on June 8, 2023, at the age of 73. His wife Martha, and his son Ty, held his hands as he moved beyond.

Gary is also survived by his daughter-in-law Elizabeth Voyles, grandchildren Emma & Zachary, and his sister Sandy Merritt. He is preceded in death by his mother, Mabel Ann Brownlow, stepfather John Brownlow, and brother, Rusty Voyles.

A broad collection of domesticated animals await him in the afterlife, and he will be missed by a left-behind clowder of formerly feral cats, particularly a domestic shorthair named Squealy.

In true GV fashion, Martha and Ty will host a happy hour from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers. Private graveside services will be followed by a Celebration of Life at First Christian Church of Lubbock at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, June 14. Please view the service broadcasting schedule on this page.

Born on October 30, 1949, in Taylor, Texas, Gary moved between Texas, California, and Tennessee during his childhood before graduating from Lubbock Coronado High School in 1969. His wanderlust led him to the life of a traveling salesman after what he called “a day-long stint” at Texas Tech University.

In February of 1981, he was set up on a blind date with Mary Martha Zachary, and after three years of courtship, they married on March 10, 1984. Martha was a package deal with her toddler son, Ty, to whom Gary was a dad from day one. In 1990 Gary officially became Ty’s father through legal adoption.

In 1987 Gary founded GV Publications, then proceeded to grow it from a scrappy, entrepreneurial business with three clients to become the nation’s second-largest publishing company for college, university, and retirement community phone directories. Though the core of the business was ad sales, the heart of GV Publications was people. Over its forty years of existence, GV Publications employed scores of staff members and developed hundreds of salespeople. Eventually, Gary extended his business acumen into a second-guessing-your-financial-analyst day trading habit and the overzealous micromanagement of an already professionally managed real estate portfolio.

Gary rose from humble beginnings. While he struck strangers as a bit of a cowboy in nature, he had an incredibly soft and generous heart. Inspired by the gifts of fortune or bits of magic that life bestowed upon him, Gary consistently and quietly gave back. Through individual sponsorship, he brought the Nightly Business Report to Lubbock’s local PBS station, KTTZ-TV. He regularly helped friends with household projects (even though he could barely handle a hammer), aided employees with down payments, floated housing and home improvement costs for contractors, and supported the Salvation Army every Christmas by feeding families with holiday hams and turkeys.

He was a lifelong collector. It started by amassing and sorting through mounds of baseball cards with Ty, grew into seeking out all the latest Hallmark ornaments for his own Christmas tree that Martha banished to the formal dining room, and culminated in stocking multiple fridges and closets with cases of California’s best wine…just so he could give it out to friends who stopped by the house.

More than anything, he wanted to make sure that everyone had fun and laughed heartily. He took a handful of friends to Phoenix for a Michael Bublé concert, hosted a dozen of his best pals at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas one Christmas vacation, and made regular trips to Las Vegas, lavishing his extended family with evenings at the Palm and hot dice on the pass line at the craps table.

In a world full of complexities, Gary loved simple pleasures: easy-drinking red wine, scratch-off lottery tickets, and great company. He was most at home with his best friend, Tommy, driving around town, talking about south Lubbock’s growth or sitting on the bay until sunburns set in, fishing for trout and reeling in red snapper.

He spent his last days where he was most comfortable: in his living room, clutching the TV clicker, sharing jokes and stories with those he held dear.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family asks that donations be made to Ty’s grassroots non-profit, The Fulcrum Foundation at https://fulcrumgives.org, or the research arm of MD Anderson Cancer Center at https://gifts.mdanderson.org.

To send flowers to the family or place a tree in memory of Gary Wayne Voyles, please visit our Tribute Store.