Gerald "Jerry" Belden, 84, of Boise, ID, passed away at home on October 17, 2022.  

Born in Arkansas City, Kansas, 7 January 1938 to Paul & Crishia Belden; the 7th of 8 children. The family moved to Porterville, CA when Jerry was a young child.  They later moved to Pine Flat, CA.  

Jerry graduated from Porterville High school in 1956.  He joined the Air Force in 1957, but was only able to serve for 5 months due to the death of his parents.  He took a hardship discharge to take care of his younger brother, Russ, after his parents passed away. 

He married Joan Stoutenburgh, his childhood friend, in 1958.  They had 3 beautiful girls - Sheryl, Caryl and Margaret (Gar).  They later divorced.

Jerry met the love of his life, Sallie Bates, in San Francisco on a blind date. They married quickly and remained married for 58 years.  They lived in Sunnyvale, CA, from 1964 to 1974.  While there, he worked for a boat winch company, bought a machine shop, and was an industrial sales manager for a local lumber company. He loved camping and fishing in the CA wilderness.  

In 1974 they moved to Sheridan, WY to go into business with his brother, Russ.  The brothers owned and operated Belden Well Drilling for several years.  Always one to have several irons in the fire at any one time, he later bought a seamless rain gutter business, as  well as started a tree spraying business, a foam insulation business and professional window washing business on the side.   He and Sallie also bought the Queen Shop, which he later named Sallie's Fashions.  His daughter Sheryl helped run the shop for a couple of years, then his sister Gladys moved to Sheridan and ran the shop with Sallie.  In his free time, he loved dune buggy riding, snowmobiling, hunting and fishing in the beautiful Big Horn Mountains of WY.

In 1986 they moved to Flagstaff, AZ where he continued with Jerry's Seamless Gutters and a garage door  installation business.   He also invested in a video store in Flagstaff and moved a second store to Camp Verde, AZ.  He bought his first ATV there which they rode all over in the forests of Flagstaff.  Jerry joined the Sheriff's Posse and was quite active with their many events and activities through the years.

In the summer of 1992 they moved to Boise, ID to be closer to family.  He lived in Boise until his passing. He continued his rain gutter business for a few years more, then went to work for Tulley Hughes Sheet Metal and then Hobson Sheet Metal.  After retiring, his main goal was camping, hunting, fishing and Razor riding whenever he could.  He truly loved the outdoors and they became his passion.  He enjoyed spending time in the mountains of Idaho with family and friends every chance he got.  

Jerry was a dog lover and raised several pups over the years.  His dogs were also his passion - Ruby, Peso, Blondie, Blue, Queenie and Red.  We are sure those that passed before him were waiting at the foot of the Rainbow Bridge to greet him.  

Jerry was preceded in death by his parents and all his siblings;  Juanita, Calvin, Melvin, Charles, Paul, Gladys, and  Russell.

Jerry is survived by his wife Sallie; daughters - Sheryl Inhofer,  Caryl Schweitzer (Karl), and Gar Malcom (John), and his grandchildren - Noah Inhofer, Marissa Inhofer, Brad Lentsch, Sam Malcom, Nanette Schweitzer and great grandchildren - Waverly & Ziggi Inhofer.

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