MARYSVILLE — If you’re curious about the impact that James “Gary” Haga had on his community and beyond, you need only ask those who knew him, and even many who didn’t.

As Dusty Leavitt wrote on the Marysville Church of the Nazarene’s Facebook thread about Haga’s death, “I didn’t know him personally, but my family and I always loved to see his smiling face walking the streets. We always waved and smiled back at him, as if we had known him forever.”

Shannon Curtis replied: “He would always talk to me and my children while we were on our morning walk/run! We will miss seeing him, and he was such a great testimony.”

As Pastor Craig Laughlin read these online comments aloud, he credited Haga with living up to the example set by his savior.

“You’ll see all sorts of stories from people who didn’t know him, but he stopped to pray with them,” Laughlin said. “That was something Jesus did, was make everyone feel important.”

During the church’s Jan. 16 celebration of life ceremony for Haga, who died of cancer Dec. 13 of last year, Laughlin and fellow Pastor Dennis Howell solicited testimony from Haga’s family and friends. Also speaking were those who simply saw and met him on the streets of Marysville the past four years, during his walks as “The Sign Guy,” wearing sandwich boards that evangelized on behalf of Jesus.

“I knew Gary was popular in the community, so I could tell that his passing would have a big impact,” Laughlin said. He hadn’t expected his church’s Facebook post on Haga to receive more than 200 comments, nearly 800 shares and 1,000 likes, and close to 68,000 hits. “That’s more people than we have in this community. It goes to show that Gary was a super high-impact person.”

Mark Epstein wrote that, “When I asked [Haga] if he would pray for our three boys, he quickly pulled out a pad and pen and asked, ‘Tell me their names.’”

“Never knew his name, waved to him nearly daily, touched my heart always,” Kristin Hager-Cook wrote. “Gary, you are the best in all of us!”

Jennifer Bower, Haga’s youngest daughter, thanked the community on behalf of his family.

“Dad touched so many of you, and that really helped him toward the end,” Bower said. “You were there for him when he really needed it.”

Les Hagen, pastor of the Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church in Darrington, had been the first to minister to Haga, and was glad to see him continue spreading “the good news” even after Haga left his former hometown.

“The folks Gary talked to weren’t always receptive,” said Ralph Woodall, a friend and fellow hot rod enthusiast of Haga. “If you can get one out of a hundred folks, I figure you’re doing great. Gary got a lot more than that.”

Glenn Beers recalled walking with Haga to Planned Parenthood in Marysville, “to witness the power of God and the blessings of life.” Laughlin emphasized that Haga’s way of witnessing was not about “beating people up or cursing them for their sins,” but about loving them.

“Gary loved people, and he loved God, and he wanted people to experience God’s love,” Laughlin said. “It’s like how God loved us so much that he gave his only begotten son.”

Tom Winter, another friend of Haga’s, credited his passion with giving him the strength to go on as long as he did.

“He was dying of cancer, and I asked him, ‘How are you still walking?’” Winter said. “Gary said, ‘I don’t know. My nurse and my doctor say I shouldn’t be able to do it, and my wife says I shouldn’t do it.’ I told him, ‘That must mean God’s not done with you yet.’”

Laughlin remains impressed with the 4-mile-per-hour pace that Haga maintained while walking through Marysville, since “that’s practically jogging,” and recounted how Haga continued to hit the streets in spite of harsh weather, hazardous traffic and audiences who didn’t always welcome his message.

“The post office had nothing on Gary,” Laughlin said. “He was like a beggar who wanted to tell other beggars where they could find bread. He wanted to share this wonderful thing that had happened to him. He wanted all of us to experience the love he experienced.”

Indeed, after his diagnosis, Haga’s most pressing concern was continuing to give witness for as long as he could.

“Gary was a naturally quiet person, not extroverted at all, so for him to do this took amazing courage,” Laughlin said. “If you didn’t know Christ, you could see him in Gary.”