Gerard K. “Gerry” Lyng

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Gerard K. “Gerry” Lyng on March 24, 2026 at age 72. He was born the fourth of six children of Alfred and Eleanor Lyng in Watertown, New York.

Gerry graduated from Trinity High School in Shiremanstown, Pennsylvania where the Lyng family moved in the mid 1960s. He later attended multiple colleges in Pennsylvania and New York. He was always an avid reader in his lifelong thirst for knowledge.

In 1985 Gerry married the bright, optimistic, love of his life Patricia “Patty” Fleming. Together, in 1990, they made their bold residential move from Pennsylvania to Washington state seeking adventure and new horizons.

Gerry was a talented self-taught musician playing guitar, bass, mandolin, piano, dulcimer, and harmonica. In the 1990s, Gerry opened Lyng Guitars in Olympia, Washington, where he sold his hand-built guitars, as well as other stringed instruments. He was also known for his expert instrument repairs. For a few years he was a partner in the Olympia Dulcimer Company.

The Lyngs have been residents of McCleary since 1994. Their move to five acres in “the prairie” in 2004 allowed Gerry to indulge in his love of animals. He enjoyed the company of bull calves, donkeys, mules, horses, dogs, and cats.

He will be sadly missed by his surviving loving wife Patty, her sisters and brother, his five siblings, cousins, and many nieces and nephews.