Gary Henry Aschim Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Gary passed away on April 17, 2018 after a short illness. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa on September 5, 1954 to Kenneth and Norma Jean Aschim. He graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice. On June 23, 1977, he married the love of his life, Barbara Medland. Together they brought into this world, two sons, Eric Garrison Aschim and Evan Garrison Aschim. He loved his sons very much and was proud of them. His career began with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he worked to open a group home facility for delinquent youth. His position was eliminated and he found himself working in Charlevoix County as a Child Welfare Worker. His life long and successful career took him to Antrim, Benzie, Leelanau, and Grand Traverse Counties. The one constant is that he was always working in the Child Welfare arena, in particular Children’s Protective Services. Gary was an unsung hero to many children in all of these counties; children who never met him or felt his compassion and empathy for their situations. He strongly believed that children needed to be with their birth families if at all possible. He championed Family Preservation initiatives in the Region that resulted in providing a myriad of services to families to strengthen them and insure that their families would remain intact. In 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C. recognized Leelanau County DHHS for Gary’s efforts to implement Family Group Decision Making. His efforts were to stop the disproportionate number of Native American children who were entering the Foster Care System. His efforts literally stopped those placements, and led to an initiative that brought together the extended families of Native children and empowered them to develop a plan to insure the safety of their children. Many young Social Workers had the privilege to work under Gary. He called them new babies and encouraged them to forget what they learned in college and to enter the real work of Social Work, a world that allowed for close relationships with the people whom they were serving, often a mentoring relationship. He insisted that his employees understand the culture of Poverty, not as a way to excuse behavior, but as a way to understand. His job was difficult, it was stressful, but Gary believed that the future of the Region’s children depended upon him to do it right. He was a non-bureaucratic bureaucrat. Rules were made to be broken if they negatively impacted the life of a child. He deeply cared about his community and it showed. At the same time, Gary had a wonderful sense of humor. He had no patience for boring meetings and would use levity as a way to say, “I am done.” His motto was “do good”. And that is exactly what he did for 35 years with his career, he “did good”. Gary is survived by his sons, Eric and Evan; his sister Karen (George) Adkins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, special friends Tim Lewis and Mary Marois, and his loving dogs, Loki and Echo. Gary was preceded in death by his loving wife Barbara on August 30, 2013, and his parents Kenneth and Norma Jean. Gary has been cremated. A celebration of Gary and Barbara’s lives will take place at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 9, 2018 at the VFW Hall in Lake Leelanau on M-204. In lieu of flowers or memorials, donations may be made to a gofundme account that has been set up to defray funeral/memorial expenses. Please visit: gofundme.com/gary-aschim-funeral-expenses. Please feel free to share your thoughts and memories with Gary’s family at www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com. Arrangements are being handled by Reynolds-Jonkoff Funeral Home and Cremation Services.

Gary Henry Aschim

September 5, 1954 - April 17, 2018