80-year-old ex-architect bags groceries to pay ₹68 lakh in medical bills after vow to dying wife

An 80-year-old former architect in Utah bags groceries to pay off ₹68 lakh in medical bills after keeping a heartfelt vow.

Gary Saling, a former top-tier architect, found himself bagging groceries at a supermarket in Utah after mounting medical bills and a vow he made to his dying wife left him financially drained, reported the New York Post.

A California native, Saling enjoyed a long and successful career designing luxury homes. (Pexel)

The 80-year-old started working at Smith’s Market in St. George in December 2020, just months after losing his wife, Carol, to two forms of dementia, one of which was the rare and aggressive progressive supranuclear palsy.

A gifted artist, Carol suffered for nearly three and a half years. Through it all, Gary remained by her side.

“I promised myself, God, her, her brother, her son and daughter (her stepsons), I promised them I would not put her in a nursing home,” he said. “I’d keep her at home and I kept it.”

The vow came with a high cost

Fulfilling that promise came at a steep cost. Their at-home care expenses alone totalled nearly $40,000, (approximately ₹34 lakh), with overall medical costs reaching $80,000 (approximately ₹68 lakh).

“I paid it all, that’s why I’m broke,” Gary admitted.

Originally from California, Saling had a long and successful career designing luxury homes, including properties for high-profile clients like Boyd Jefferies, founder of the Jeffries Investment Group. His firm even appeared on the Architectural Digest top 100 list four times.

Gary first met Carol in 1990 during a chance encounter; she was driving, and he was walking. The two struck up a conversation that lasted over three hours on a park bench.

“We fell in love the day that we met at the park,” he recalled. “We admitted that to each other later when we were dating.”

They got engaged the following year, married soon after, and later moved to Montana after their children from previous marriages had grown up.

When it came time to rejoin the workforce in his later years, Saling chose a job that required minimal mental strain, bagging groceries. “I wanted a job that didn’t require thinking after a lifetime of using my mind to build homes,” he said.

The position unexpectedly brought new friendships, including with Duana Johnson, who was moved by Gary’s story. When he shared that he expected to work until he died, she launched a fundraiser on his behalf.

The campaign gained momentum after local outlet Fox 13 featured Gary’s story, and by Sunday, it had raised nearly $40,000 — enough for Gary to finally consider retirement by the end of June.

“It’s awesome to see that because it shows there’s a lot of compassion and love in our country that a lot of people are speaking against,” Johnson said. “A lot of people are saying it’s not that way, but I’m seeing the opposite.”

She added, “Gary told me that Carol was very faithful, she loved the Lord. I just feel like her prayers for him as she was leaving this earth are being answered. She loved him so much.”

Updates on the fundraiser have been posted on a local Facebook page. Gary said the outpouring of support has left him “overloaded with gratitude” and “speechless.”

“People have said ‘oh what a hero, or an angel or some people have even said saint.’ Well my response to them … I’m certainly not a hero, certainly not an angel and far from a saint,” he said.

“I took care of her at home from the day she was diagnosed till I held her in my arms when she took her last breath and it was because I took vows, it’s as simple as that. I took vows in sickness and in health.”