More to the story of George Carberry’s devotion

Sultan High School’s principal can sum up the life of George Carberry in short order.

“George Carberry loved kids, end of story,” Dave Harrington said.

That isn’t the end of the story, though. Far from it.

Carberry was a teacher and a principal at Sultan High School. He was also Sultan’s school superintendent. In the late 1990s, he played a key role in passing a bond issue that paid for Sultan High’s track and football stadium.

Active in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association in the early 1970s, he helped start the Gridiron Classic high school state football playoffs and the Mat Classic wrestling championships. A giant in high school athletics, Carberry was also known as a people person.

“He never lost the personal touch,” Harrington said. “He loved everybody he ran into.”

George Walter Carberry Jr. of Sultan died Oct. 5. He was 76.

He is survived by his wife, Leola; son Randy Carberry of Gold Bar; daughters Debbie Verginia of Duvall and Tammy Brown of Startup; granddaughters Melanie, Kacie, Whitney and Hailey; grandsons Travis, Chad, Jesse and Brandon; and three great-grandchildren. Also by his sisters, Jean Susnar of Federal Way, Francis Davis of Entiat and Glennis Little of Manson.

He was preceded in death by parents George Carberry Sr. and Ragna Sylte Carberry; by two infant children, Ricky and Sherry; and by two sisters, Elaine Hickman and Clara Luker.

“He was Mr. Random Acts of Kindness, that’s for sure,” said Susan Green, owner of the Flat Iron Gallery in Sultan and a former student of Carberry’s. “If kids had problems, he could talk to them and get them out of the mess. He knew everybody, and everybody knew him.

“After he retired, he’d go pick up shut-ins, or go to retirement homes and visit people. He’d go around and spend the day with lonely people,” Green said.

Carberry retired more than once. After retirement from Sultan schools, he became assistant superintendent for the Marysville School District. Retired again, he became a standout car salesman for Dwayne Lane in Everett.

Green laughed at her memories of Carberry trying to sell her a car. “He kept bringing me cars, he’d drop them off and say, ‘Drive it for the day.’ You couldn’t say no to George.”

That persuasiveness helped fund Sultan school projects. “We finished the new sports complex about seven years ago, and George was so proud of that thing,” Harrington said. “You didn’t build anything or run a levy without George Carberry. When he went door to door, the thing was going to fly.”

Al Furiak of Everett got to know Carberry through involvement in the Snohomish County Football Hall of Fame, which puts on an annual banquet to recognize high school football standouts.

“I don’t know if George was ever unhappy. There was always a smile on his face, and he was always glad to see you,” Furiak said.

Furiak, who officiates at high school football games, said Carberry came to every Sultan game. “He and his wife always sat in the same spot, right in the middle,” Furiak said.

In 2002, Carberry was recognized by The Herald with the newspaper’s first Larry Hanson Community MVP Award. The award was part of The Herald’s Man and Woman of the Year in Sports banquet. Carberry’s award was named for The Herald’s retired publisher, Larry Hanson.

Leola Carberry, his wife of 54 years, said her husband never lost his love of small communities.

Born July 5, 1930, Carberry was raised in Entiat and graduated from Entiat High School in 1949. He served in the Coast Guard during the Korean War. He was Wenatchee Valley Junior College student body president and played baseball at Wenatchee and at Central Washington University, where he graduated in 1958 with a master’s degree in education.

He taught in Lind and Wilbur before coming to Sultan to stay.

Education has changed, but Carberry never did, Harrington said.

“The biggest thing he ever taught me was that people come first,” Harrington said. “Schools are about people, not paper. George was still about teaching that schools – successful schools – are always about people.”

“If he had been your teacher, or you were anybody who’d been with him during his time at school, he would consider you family,” said Green, of the Sultan gallery. “He would take care of you.”

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.