Gary Lott, "Cowboy," to those who knew and loved him, was born in Centralia, Illinois in 1944. He learned to fly while in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. In 1988, his flight skills and a "no one left behind" attitude led to his saving a group of firefighters caught in a potential burnover situation, for which he received two Helicopter Heroism awards. Gary eventually went to work for CAL FIRE and served 16 years as a forestry helicopter pilot. Gary was able to follow his dream of sailing the Caribbean before succumbing to job-related cancer