Garrett Michael Stevenson

Garrett Michael Stevenson, 23, passed away on January 9, 2022. “If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.” Garrett knew a life of uphill battles. He also knew the thrill of living from that space where just about anything was possible and for a mind like his, perhaps it was. Garrett was an Original. The A1 sauce that just simply made life uniquely fun, dangerously thrilling, and guaranteed to be caught doing something out of the ordinary and wild. His most recent achievement, the rebuild of Darla his beloved trans am he custom rebuilt. One time he even lost the key and was able to start it by creating a “Garrett only” custom solution. He liked challenges, for him, they were a part of that living on the edge that made life fun. A self-taught mechanic he trained in technical school and quickly adapted what he learned to make whatever it was better. Garrett was more of a free bird and as much as he gleaned from the tech shops that he blessed with his presence, he really felt that he was best ‘makin it rain’ in his own. And he did. That was Garrett; he could do anything. And since he didn’t follow structural patterns he had no concept of not being able to accomplish something outside of the box and extraordinary with his hands. In his later years, he rocked a mullet and if you were to ask him, he’s the reason mullets made a comeback. And you know what? Who’s to say he is not right? Garrett was born on February 19, 1998, in La Grande, OR. It was as if he had a bit of a rough landing getting here because it seemed he was riding over big waves of challenge a lot of the time. When Garrett was eight, his dad, Mike, was tragically run over by a logging truck while working on the job. Similar to the tragedy of Garrett’s end on Earth, this tragedy left a mark that changed time and Garrett’s life at a young age. Garrett was an overcomer and he persevered through circumstances unimaginable and he always seemed to find a joke for a silver lining, just like his dad. From the time Garrett was little he always liked to take things apart. At times he even knew how to put them back together better than their original design. So sometimes things got creatively interesting and never short of unique. As a toddler he made master lego creations and in adolescence transitioned to things like installing subwoofers into his dresser drawers. Garrett had a big mind and always turned anything ordinary into something of a masterpiece. In his teen years, Garrett started writing rap songs as a way to articulate thoughts about life, and maybe even process the grief that he likely never could quite express otherwise. Garrett hid behind a grin that you couldn’t help but smirk right back, even if undercover. In 2017 Garrett became a father to a son with Ola Morgan, a light to our family; Chevy Michael James Stevenson. Chevy is a boy who puts a song in everyone’s heart, and like his father, beats to a drum the world has never seen. Garrett loved deeply though this world dealt him a lot of pain. The world has lost a true genius whose gifts had only begun to be unwrapped and discovered. To walk in another man’s shoes, that’s one thing we can all agree is impossible to do. Life is the beginning of death, and death is the beginning of life. Life is but a flicker, a dream of time. Eternity is just past the dream, Garrett made it past the dream and will forever live in our hearts and minds and throughout time. Garrett is survived by his parents Mike Stevenson (Gearhart, OR) Kelly Kennedy (Post Falls, ID), and Son Chevy Michael James Stevenson (Ola Morgan). Siblings Kayla Dalton (Redding, CA); Kyle Dalton (Rebekah) (Post Falls ID); Gage Fortenberry (Kayla) Post Falls, ID; Alex Stevenson (Gearhart, OR), Grandparents Stan and Rosemary Stevenson (Gearhart, OR); Dave and Naomi Rogers (La Grande, OR); Grandfather Jessi Kennedy (Elgin, OR), and nephew Torin Dalton (Post Falls, ID) as well as uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends who will all miss Garrett deeply. Preceded in death by Barbara Kennedy (grandmother)