Senior Center packed for Greeley benefit

If a person's wealth is measured, as it always is in the end, by the number of friends he has and the number of lives he touches, then Gary Greeley may be the richest man in Maryville.

Upwards of 1,000 people turned out Friday night for a fundraising dinner and silent auction to raise money for Greeley, who was diagnosed earlier this year with amyloidosis, a rare blood disease that can lead to heart failure, cause damage to other internal organs and inhibit the body's motor functions.

Once active, gregarious and outgoing, Greeley appeared frail and subdued during the event, though obviously in high spirits as he greeted friends and neighbors who gathered at the Nodaway County Senior Center to offer their support, prayers and hard-earned cash.

His step is halting now, and his hair, beneath an ever-present Bearcats ball cap, is thinned from chemotherapy. He also recently underwent a stem cell transplant. But his eyes sparkled above the medical mask he wore to guard a weakened immune system against infection.

"This is unbelievable, really," he said looking out over the large crowd. "I guess they were worried earlier that there wasn't going to be enough food."

The money raised at last week's benefit will be used to help the father of three pay thousands of dollars in medical bills and transportation costs associated with weeks of treatment in Omaha this summer.

Known to many simply as "Gary the barber," Greeley has been cutting Maryville's hair for 40 years. His little shop on Fourth Street, just a short walk from the Northwest Missouri State University campus, looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Stuffed with Bearcats souvenirs and other mementoes, it's the kind of place men go to as much for the stories, sports talk, jokes and camaraderie as a trim or a shave.

Greeley has been unable to work through much of his illness, but his sister-in-law Cecelia Kelmel, the sister of Greeley's late wife, Becky, who died of breast cancer in 2005, said he's trying to get back to the shop at least three days a week.

"He's doing well," said Kelmel, who helped organize the benefit along with Lynette Harbin of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nodaway County, a friend of the family. "He's been through a lot, and I think it's tough. But he does an awesome job. The community has really stood behind him and supported him, and we are very thankful for that."

Greeley himself is optimistic, a state of mind that doesn't surprise anybody who knows him.

"I'm doing really well," he said. "All my numbers, white cell count, hemoglobin, are fantastic, and right now they're telling me not to come back (to the hospital) except for checkups."

But despite his positive outlook, Greeley grew serious when asked about the impact his illness has had on his kids, Tyler, Spencer and Abbie, who must now cope with a seriously ill father after losing their mother to cancer seven years ago.

Tyler attends Northwest Missouri State University. Spencer is a freshman at Maryville High School, and Abbie goes to Maryville Middle School.

Life on the home front, Greeley admits, has been tough.

"You have no idea what they went through when I was in the hospital," Greeley said of his children. "Nobody does. You never know how hard something is until you've been in the other fellow's shoes. You take things for granted, and you think it's always going to be that way, but it's not."

But as the Greeley family struggled, the genial barber's many friends began stitching together a support network that helped everyone keep it together.

"It was just an amazing thing," Greeley said. "You're going through chemo, and you don't just tell everybody everything. But you know how this town is. People found out, and they wanted to help."

One of those people was Harbin, whose organization specializes in programs designed to strengthen single-parent families.

"Gary has done so much for so many people over the years," she said. "He's always been willing to donate his time and money for people in need. … It's nice to see so many people rally around him."