Gay Lincoln, a retired union machinist who was long active in the civic life of Southwest Washington, died April 30 at age 82.
Born Feb. 8, 1940 in Kearney, Nebraska, Gay Robert Lincoln served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1959 to 1962, and then went to work at West Coast Airlines as an aircraft mechanic in Salt Lake City in 1964, transferring to PDX in 1974. He worked for the same company his entire 39-year career, but it went through multiple names through a succession of mergers and acquisitions, from West Coast Airlines to Air West, Hughes Air West, and Republic Airlines, before retiring from Northwest Airlines in 2003 (which since then merged into Delta).
Lincoln was a member of Machinists Local 1885, and served as secretary of the the Labor Roundtable of Southwest Washington, which honored him for military service in 2016 and conferred on him a lifetime achievement award in 2017. He also served as a delegate to the Southwest Washington Central Labor Council, and was active with the Rose City Machinists retirees club.
He is survived by his wife Jeanne Lincoln and by sons, grandchildren and siblings.
A memorial service will be held 10 a.m. May 24 at Evergreen Memorial Gardens. Those who knew him can share a memory at columbian.com/obits  Â
