Garry Bybee, a longtime Idaho-East Oregon onion shipper, died at his home in Nyssa, OR, on Thursday, March 12. Mr. Bybee had been battling cancer for many months. He was 81.

One of four children born to Sherman Parley Bybee and Virginia Bybee, Garry Bybee was born April 2, 1938, in Rupert, ID. He was the youngest of four children and was preceded by brothers Jay and Ray and sister Colleen (Froerer).

In 1940 the Bybees moved to Nyssa to farm, and a family tribute and obituary said he came to the decision early on that “perhaps farming was not what he wanted to do for a living.” He later became a prominent leader in the region’s onion industry.

A graduate of Nyssa High School, Mr. Bybee earned his bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in economics at Utah State University in Logan. It was there he met Ronda Faye Buttars, and the two married in 1963. After his graduation from USU, the tribute said, Mr. Bybee was offered a scholarship to New York University but instead chose to remain in Utah and work with Thiokol Chemical Co. in Tremonton, where he was part of the Minuteman Missile Program.

After their wedding, the young Bybee couple spent two years in Logan and then moved to Scottsdale, AZ, where Mr. Bybee served in several managerial positions with Motorola. They started their family, and sons Todd and Marc were born in 1968 and 1971, respectively.

Two years after Marc’s birth the family returned to Nyssa, and Mr. Bybee began working with his father and siblings at Fiesta Farms. Daughter Misty was born in 1974.

Eventually Mr. Bybee and Ronda became full owners of Fiesta Farms, and in addition to running that operation, Mr. Bybee headed up Bybee Farms and Wood I manufacturing operation in Ontario, OR, where floor and wood trusses were produced.

Well-known and respected in the community, Mr. Bybee was very involved with the Idaho-Oregon Fruit & Vegetable Association. He served as president of that organization in 1997, and he also sat on the Malheur Planning and Zoning Commission. Additionally, he was a longtime member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the father of four was a Nyssa Little League Baseball coach.

Mr. Bybee was also a leader in the region’s onion industry, sitting on the Idaho-E. Oregon Onion Committee for many years in the Oregon Handler District starting in 1975. He sat on the Hall of Fame Committee for more than a decade and was an honoree in 2018, inducted into that prestigious group.

One of the founding members of Certified Onions Inc., Mr. Bybee devoted a good part of his life to work -- but he also took time to “enjoy life away from his many work and community roles,” the family’s tribute said. He and Mrs. Bybee enjoyed traveling the world and joined several group trips with the National Association. Over the years the couple visited Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, and Mexico, and the tribute said, “Closer destinations like Banff Canada, Carlsbad Caverns, San Francisco and S. Utah made for memorable family road trips.”

An enthusiastic golfer, Mr. Bybee played more in recent years after Fiesta Farms partnered with Eagle Eye Produce. He also liked to join in annual pheasant huts with his brother, Jay, and other family members, and the tribute said it was “usually Garry that came home with the most birds.”

Mr. Bybee was preceded in death by his wife, Ronda, in 2019 and was also predeceased by his parents, his older brothers and his great-grandson, Oliver Jackson Berdowski.

He is survived by son Todd and Lynn (Faulkenberry) of Portland, OR; son Marc and Tamara Bybee of Nyssa; and daughter Misty Bybee and Travis Page, also of Nyssa. Mr. Bybee is also survived by his sister, Colleen Froerer, and by many grandchildren; Brianna Berdowski (Neil); Yutá Bybee (Ashley Hagon); Lily Faye Bybee; Olivia Rose Page; Andrew David Faulkenberry; Justin Robert Faulkenberry; Garrison Marshall Page; and Layla Leigh Page. His great-grandchildren include Henry, Evelyn and Franklin Berdowski.

A celebration of Garry Bybee’s life, which will include family and friends, is planned for Saturday May 9, at Fiesta Farms warehouse and loading docks in Nyssa, OR, at 6 p.m.

(Whether at an Idaho-Oregon Fruit & Vegetable Association annual conference in McCall, ID, or in the Fiesta Farms offices in Nyssa, OR, Garry Bybee’s dedication to the onion industry was always evident. Shown left to right in the photo above are Garry and Ronda Bybee and Marc and Tamara Bybee.)