Gary was born December 25, 1946, in Fairbury, Nebraska, to Elmer and Elda (nee Krebs) Sasse. After a few years in Moorhead, Minnesota, Gary and his older brother, Roger, were raised primarily in Fremont, Nebraska.
As a child, he was obsessed with all sports: football, baseball, wrestling, fishing, hunting, motorcycle racing, and even schoolyard acrobatics – which produced countless stitches, five broken collarbones, and a dislocated hip.
After wrestling at, and graduating from, Midland Lutheran College in 1969, he would begin his teaching and coaching career in Plainview. There, with then-wife Linda (nee Dunklau), he would have a son, Ben.
Under his leadership as head wrestling coach, the Pirates would finish state runners-up (by two points in the heartbreaking final match). He also coached football and track and field, and officiated many games per week in volleyball, basketball, wrestling, and more.
In 1974, having returned to Fremont, he married Jean (nee Heckman) of Hickman, and was blessed to grow his family with the addition of Jeff and Lisa Massie. Gary believed Jean to be the perfect life partner, displaying equal parts genuineness, common sense, steadiness, strength, love, and grace. Gary said he wouldn’t make her rich but pledged he would make her laugh every day of her life – which he did. She in turn cared for him as a faithful friend through decades of health challenges, surgeries and transplants.
So committed was he to coaching and investing in young athletes, and so well-known at games and tournaments across the state, that his two younger children for a time believed his given first name was “Coach,” rather than Gary.
After 16 years of teaching in Fremont and coaching the Tigers, he and Jean relocated to Lincoln in 1990. Gary would work first in sales, and then at Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, alongside brother Roger. Even on his deathbed, Gary would continue to declare Roger the most generous man he’d ever met, “literally willing to give both friend and stranger the very shirt off his back.” Both his parents and Roger preceded him in death.
He loved his motorcycles and over time owned many and spent hours riding the trails of the Fremont State Lakes. Two of his other favorite pastimes were cheering on the Huskers – near and far and attending car races from the dirt tracks of Nebraska to the Indianapolis 500.
Gary was happily confessing Christ as he approached death, trusting not only Jesus’ sacrificial death to atone for his sins, but also that Jesus’ righteous life imputed to him credit that he did not himself earn. Gary and Jean have been members of various Lutheran churches in Fremont and Lincoln throughout their lives and were grateful to have a deepening faith and appreciation for the Scriptures over the last decade and a half.
He is survived by his lovely wife of 52 years; by three children — Jeff Massie (Monica), Ben Sasse (Melissa), and Lisa Van Ostrand (Perry); by seven grandchildren — Alison Embry (Chris), Corrie Sasse, Alex Sasse, Breck Sasse, Dana Van Ostrand (Amber), Ryan Van Ostrand (Haley), and Taylor Van Ostrand (Emilien Meray); and by six great-grandchildren.
He is preceded in death by granddaughter Sarah Van Ostrand, last year. Memorials for Gary are requested to be directed to the SVO JO[Y]: Micah 6:8 Scholarship that has been established at Lincoln Christian School to honor Sarah’s life. (SVO JOY; c/o Lincoln Christian School Foundation; 5801 S. 84th Street; Lincoln, NE 68516.)
Services (casual attire) will be held on Monday, Nov. 23, at Roper and Sons Midtown Chapel, 4300 O Street, in Lincoln. Visitation at 10am, Funeral at 11am, Burial will follow at College View Cemetery, 6900 Pioneers Blvd followed by a reception at Roper and Sons Midtown Chapel.