Garry Bolton was born in Edmonton, Alberta and attended school in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He obtained his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manitoba in 1970.

Garry first joined the Air Cadet program in the 1970's, as the Sponsoring Committee Chair for 191 RCACS on behalf of the Rotary Club of West Winnipeg. He served again in the same capacity in the late 1980's, prior to his joining the Manitoba Provincial Committee in 1997. He has served as the Vice Chair from 1998 to 2000, Chair in the cadet year 2000 to 2001, and as Past Chair from 2001 until 2006.  He was a National Director of the Air Cadet League of Canada from 1998 until 2006. He is presently serving as an Advisory Board Member with the ACL (MB) and he received the National League's Certificate of Honour in 2003.

Garry has been employed with SMS Engineering Ltd. since January of 1973, has been a Partner since 1987, and in 1996 became the firm's President.

Garry has been very active in other Community Service Organizations over the years, and has held many offices as a Volunteer. He has served as President of the Rotary Club of West Winnipeg, President of the Western Canada Aviation Museum, Chair of the Trade Development Committee for the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce (1998-1999 Volunteer of the Year), President of the Consulting Engineers of Manitoba in 1996-1997, Chair of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada in 2003-2004, and as Co-Chair of the $52 million corporate fund raising campaign for the University of Manitoba's new Engineering and Information Technology Centre.