Life Story: Everett man’s upbeat attitude won him many friends

Published 12:01 am Sunday, March 6, 2011

Always in a good mood, singing, laughing, socializing. That’s how people who knew Greg Bading remember him.

Work, errands, everyday life, it was all a social activity to Bading, an Everett man who was developmentally disabled.

“He seemed to know everybody,” said Mike Bading, Greg’s old

er brother. “You’d go somewhere in Everett and people from Safeway, Albertsons, they all knew him. Everybody knew him.”

Greg Bading died Feb. 1 in the Everett condominium where he lived on his own. He was helped by Sunrise Services, Inc., a home care agency.

Bading was born Aug. 29, 1963. He was 47. His mother, Helga Byhre of Shoreline, said her younger son had several serious health problems, including hypertension and diabetes. His death, she said, was believed to have been caused by heart disease.

Through the years, Bading found jobs through Work Opportunities. The Lynnwood-based nonprofit organization provides vocational services to disabled people. Since 2008, he had worked several days a week at the Red Robin restaurant on Everett Mall Way.

In 2009, Bading made headlines in The Herald when Red Robin co-workers took up a collection to buy him a new bicycle after his bike was stolen. Bading didn’t drive and went everywhere either by bus or bicycle.

“Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe this,” Greg Bading said in 2009 after his work friends surprised him with the bike.

“He was always very upbeat,” said Zach Conklin, who works at Red Robin and was involved in the bike gift. “He liked to sing, and he knew a lot about music. We had fun with him with the music in the restaurant,” Conklin said. “A song would come on and I’d say, ‘Oh, that’s Michael Jackson.’ And he’d say, ‘No, that’s not Michael Jackson.’ He had a really good knowledge of music.”

Veronica Rebeiro, program coordinator with Sunrise Services, said Bading had been helped by the agency since 1983 after he graduated from Woodway High School. Bading came to the Sunrise office on Evergreen Way near his home daily to have coffee and seek assistance with bill-paying and other tasks, she said. A man who works for Sunrise visited Bading’s condo at least twice a week to help with cleaning and groceries. A memorial gathering for Bading was held Feb. 23 at Sunrise Services.

“He never said a rude comment or ridiculed anyone,” Rebeiro said. “He would always ask, ‘How are you doing?’ He was really concerned about people.”

Rebeiro said Bading had his routines, and visited friends at Starbucks and at area grocery stores. “And he read the newspaper every day,” she said.

Mike Bading, who lives in Boise, Idaho, said his brother was involved for years with Special Olympics. He played soccer and basketball on teams coached by Jennifer and Justin Huard. Jennifer Huard also knew Bading through her work at Work Opportunities.

“The thing that I remember best, he was almost always in a good mood,” Mike Bading said. “When he was working, he’d sing. He would laugh very easily. He loved rock ‘n’ roll. A friend of ours had a band. They would do some performances at local clubs, and Greg would get up and announce.”

Byhre, Bading’s mother, has been a mountaineer and ski instructor who took both sons skiing. “As younger kids we’d go on ski jumps,” Mike Bading said. “Greg didn’t wear his boots all the way tight. He jumped out of his boots. He’d make you laugh.”

Bading said he and his brother took karate when they were younger, and that Greg had gone back to studying karate in recent years. Greg Bading had a physical disability, he had trouble bending his elbows. Even so, Greg Bading “earned all the way to a purple belt” in karate, his brother said.

Mike Bading said his brother had “a very childlike attitude,” but was far more intelligent than people thought.

“He was probably more well traveled than you could imagine,” he said. “I know he rode his bike everywhere, and he could navigate buses. If he had trouble, he would ask people for help.”

Greg Bading had previous jobs doing computer electronic work in a group.

“He considered work to be socializing,” Byhre said of her son. “He was a real social animal. He was always talking to people.”

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.