50 years together, 47 1/2 married.

I miss you and will always love you.

Jerry was a great friend and neighbor to our daughter and son-in-law, Monica and Barrett Henderson.  I always enjoyed our conversations and picking Jerry’s brain for ideas to solve problems I encountered while remodeling the kids house.  And Jerry always had that specialty tool we were needing to complete the job.  He will be missed!

Kevin McCrary

Jerry was my big brother. The memories are countless, but some are ingrained in my mind forever. When we were growing up, we shared a room. I remember us both waking up on January 1, 1965, excited about a new year. I remember the great Seattle earthquake struck, Jerry was under our house in the crawlspace trying to level the floors with a jack. His string controlled RC airplane. His participation in the local Civil Air Patrol. 

As we grew, he pursued all things mechanical, and eventually joined the Army to become a heavy maintenance mechanic. After his Army career, he brought home some stereo equipment and got me into electronics.

Jerry taught me everything I know about mechanics and how to logically figure out the purpose of all the interacting parts, and the importance of paying attention to detail for all these systems. That experience jump started my career in electronics, which relies heavily on how and why subsystems are assembled the way they are.

He didn’t talk much about his job at Fairchild AFB, but when he retired, I got to hear testimony on how valuable he was in his job, how his pursuit of excellence won the base many awards, and how much money he saved the taxpayers with his wise decisions and efficient choices. I was incredibly proud of my brother and made it my personal goal to emulate his attention to detail, integrity and pursuit of excellence.

Jerry was an incredible big brother, always sharing his knowledge and experience, always adept at sourcing the information I needed to accomplish my goals, always willing to drill down to the last detail of a task. Jerry was also an incredible gardener, his harvests were always incredible and high quality. He showed me all his techniques, but I couldn’t attain his touch.

We had a close relationship, pursued hobbies together, collaborated on income earning side jobs, and enjoyed all aspects of it.

I miss my brother. If there is one thing I can do to honor his time here on earth, it’s to live life with the same excellence he redeemed with his time here.

Eric Adamietz

Our heartfelt condolences for your loss. We loved Jerry and it was an honor to have met him at the family reunions at Mike and Kim Ellsworth's.  

Sincerely, Tim, Gloria, and Todd Branson