Gary Craig Lasater

Gary Craig Lasater passed away in the early morning of January 5, 2026, at Providence Hospital in Walla Walla, Washington.

He was born August 18, 1935, in Walla Walla to Redman Lasater and Claire Lycan Lasater Groth. Gary graduated from Walla Walla High School, Wa-Hi, in 1953 and served in the Air Reserve in the mid-1950s.

Flying was an important part of Gary's life from an early age. His father and mother were both pilots, and Gary earned his private pilot's license when he was young. Over the years, he owned several aircraft, including a spray plane he used for crop management.

Gary was a wheat farmer who carried on the family tradition of farming the Wellman and Lasater land in the Clyde, Washington, area of Walla Walla County. He farmed with his father, Redman, and, for a time, also worked as an alfalfa seed fieldman for W.R. Grace when the company operated in Touchet, Washington.

He enjoyed creating innovations that made farm work easier. With his friend Robert Lonneker, also from a long farming heritage in the county, Gary worked on a forerunner of a bank-out wagon, built from a Euclid earth mover modified to follow a combine and catch wheat dumps while moving with the contours of the ground.

Gary cared deeply about the ground he farmed, and nothing brought him more joy than seeing the first green growth of the wheat seeds he had planted.

Gary is survived by his wife, Donna; daughter, Kimm Krebs and her husband, Tom; granddaughters, Kelsey DeVink and her husband, Kees; and Courtney Jensen and her husband, Joey; sisters, Debra Johnson and her husband, Craig; and Janet Stelzer; and seven great-grandchildren.

He is deeply missed.

A private memorial is planned.