When I first saw him, I told him that I had no idea he lived in this part of the country, then when he was leaving, I told him that it was cool meeting him, and he said, "Thanks!"
I felt sorry for him though...I talked to him for maybe fifteen minutes, and in that time a crowd started to gather around, and I could hear people saying things about him, and not really being all that nice about it. It occurred to me that no matter where he goes, he runs into that sort of thing, and worse. He had to be one of the most famous people on this planet, and was the butt of jokes his whole life. His arm was wrapped with gauze, which I figured was from dialysis, and I know how tough having kidney problems can be...my mom had a kidney transplant a few years ago, and she has gone through hell. Gary was a lot smaller than I pictured him to be as well, and I'm sure he was picked on his whole life for that as well. No wonder he was cranky at times!
He treated me very well though.
RIP Gary.