Many memories of Gerry...A remarkable person with a deep love for people. Over the course of many years he told endless stories about his classmates with great detail, always with respect and admiration recounting the success he observed or had heard about with pride that a classmate he cared about was acheiving their potential.
I remember these times together in this order. The chronology may be a bit off, but here goes...
Shopping at Corno's Market in Portland, heading up to Corbett to a house he lived in in the middle of nowhere and spending the afternoon cooking organic vegetables and brown rice, (macrobiotic at the time) he was convinced that made him more spiritual. Gerry had a deep inquisitiveness about spiritual things.
Even in high school he loved the art of selling, I'm sure his father Ron had something to do with that. Many nights we started the evening off with Lois and Ron, Gerry would be eating dinner, they made a picher of martini's and soon off we would go for an adventure of some sort. We re-connected off and on for years. A house on Corbett St. in John's Landing, meeting him at the Los Angeles Gift Show in late 1975. We drove together all the way back to Portland. At that time he owned that largest candle manufacturing business west of the Mississippi in Scappose. He sold the business, lived in Rock Creek east of Portland for a while and began making jewelry. Selling at street fairs and where ever people gathered, business was good so he took the plunge and found retail space at the Galleria in downtown Portland, up on the third floor was The Gold Rush. Gerry told me that people weren't buying the gold work he was selling at all and he that he used to sell more silver work in Sellwood. I asked him what his customers told him and he said he overheard several of them talking among themselves saying, "it was to cheap there must be something wrong with it." Gerry's solution was to double his current markup and add his shoe size. From that decision the gold rush was on! For years and in fact up until the last few weeks he was alive would tell that story of the Galleria with great delight. Gerry began to sell jewelry faster than he could make it. He had Christy working as well as some other people, he could now concentrate on production, soon began buying gold out of Israel at deep discounts, he knew how to get the best price and told me he had really hit it big (I did see evidence $$$, he like to spend and have a good time). I guess the 'shoe size" made the difference! He leased a BMW, began 'investing' in drugs and before long addiction to drugs and alcohol became a monkey he was never able to leave behind.
Gerry and Christy moved to Phoenix, where he worked promoting magazines that featured the newest communities for sale, he worked his way out of trouble and began his next business Water Treatment Engineering. Along the way there were many other dabbles in businesses but the Water Treatment business both in Phoenix and Bend was the one that kept him alive until the end. I went to Bend several years before Gerry died at his request, he was selling jewelry in Fred Meyer trying to get himself back on his feet. Visibly he was a different person. A wonderful woman with a heart of gold named Yvonne met Gerry at Fred Meyer, could see his potential, (Yvonne had sevearl successful businesses) and as far as I knew was wise enough to assist Gerry but never give him access to her finances. She stood beside him, providing business and life advice, encouraging him until the day he died. Yvonne is one of those special people, we keep in touch through emails and I will forever respect her example of friendship and love. I made many trips to Bend during Gerry's final months alive. I miss who he was, not who he became and am still saddened when I think of what drugs and alcohol can do to people we love.
I found this published in a Bend Newspaper, in his honor:
Survivors include his two sons, Nathan and Joseph; a daughter, Alissa of Visalia, Calif.; his mother of Redmond and father of Portland; a brother, Randal of Portland; former wife, Christine Houck Evans; and companion, Yvonne Richer.
Nick, thanks for sharing Jerry's "transitions". I have memories of some of the escapades in high school. Jerry had a wild and magnetic spirit that drew you in. Although I lost contact with him after leaving Salem, I did have occasional contact with him when he later on came to Bend. My real connection though has been with his mother Lois. She has lived in Redmond for many years and became a client of mine 20+ years ago. Lois is an incredibly sweet, enjoyable and positive person. I'm grateful to have the relationship with her.
A tremendous athlete. Especially football (HS quarterback) and baseball (HS) and softball. Over the years - I had a chance to watch (and play with ) some really great softball players. Gerry was one of the best. In 1982 - 83 I played with him on a team in Portland that included SSHS alums Nick Cloyd, Nick Fulwiler, Bill Bennington, Steve Bjorkman, and Jeff Roselle (occasionally). Gerry played 3rd base and could do it all - a very intelligent player who really "knew" how to play the game. He had a tremendous arm, glove, could hit to ALL fields, and was lightening on the bases. He was quite a salesman and "operator" - meaning he always had some new idea or business cooked up that he was trying to sell or promote. Some got him into trouble. Similar to Steve Bjorkman - he was always a "partier", especially hard near the end, and this lifestyle eventually caught up to him.
Jerry was one of the "neighbor kids" who got together in our So. Salem neighborhood where we played softball, kickball, kick the can, soccer, hide and seek and others when we were in grade school at McKinley. He was always a fun kid and a good athlete, someone you wanted on your team, whether at school or in the neighborhood. I'm so sorry to hear about his later difficulties, but glad to know there were some good friends who kept in touch.
Nick Cloyd
Many memories of Gerry...A remarkable person with a deep love for people. Over the course of many years he told endless stories about his classmates with great detail, always with respect and admiration recounting the success he observed or had heard about with pride that a classmate he cared about was acheiving their potential.I remember these times together in this order. The chronology may be a bit off, but here goes...
Shopping at Corno's Market in Portland, heading up to Corbett to a house he lived in in the middle of nowhere and spending the afternoon cooking organic vegetables and brown rice, (macrobiotic at the time) he was convinced that made him more spiritual. Gerry had a deep inquisitiveness about spiritual things.
Even in high school he loved the art of selling, I'm sure his father Ron had something to do with that. Many nights we started the evening off with Lois and Ron, Gerry would be eating dinner, they made a picher of martini's and soon off we would go for an adventure of some sort. We re-connected off and on for years. A house on Corbett St. in John's Landing, meeting him at the Los Angeles Gift Show in late 1975. We drove together all the way back to Portland. At that time he owned that largest candle manufacturing business west of the Mississippi in Scappose. He sold the business, lived in Rock Creek east of Portland for a while and began making jewelry. Selling at street fairs and where ever people gathered, business was good so he took the plunge and found retail space at the Galleria in downtown Portland, up on the third floor was The Gold Rush. Gerry told me that people weren't buying the gold work he was selling at all and he that he used to sell more silver work in Sellwood. I asked him what his customers told him and he said he overheard several of them talking among themselves saying, "it was to cheap there must be something wrong with it." Gerry's solution was to double his current markup and add his shoe size. From that decision the gold rush was on! For years and in fact up until the last few weeks he was alive would tell that story of the Galleria with great delight. Gerry began to sell jewelry faster than he could make it. He had Christy working as well as some other people, he could now concentrate on production, soon began buying gold out of Israel at deep discounts, he knew how to get the best price and told me he had really hit it big (I did see evidence $$$, he like to spend and have a good time). I guess the 'shoe size" made the difference! He leased a BMW, began 'investing' in drugs and before long addiction to drugs and alcohol became a monkey he was never able to leave behind.
Gerry and Christy moved to Phoenix, where he worked promoting magazines that featured the newest communities for sale, he worked his way out of trouble and began his next business Water Treatment Engineering. Along the way there were many other dabbles in businesses but the Water Treatment business both in Phoenix and Bend was the one that kept him alive until the end. I went to Bend several years before Gerry died at his request, he was selling jewelry in Fred Meyer trying to get himself back on his feet. Visibly he was a different person. A wonderful woman with a heart of gold named Yvonne met Gerry at Fred Meyer, could see his potential, (Yvonne had sevearl successful businesses) and as far as I knew was wise enough to assist Gerry but never give him access to her finances. She stood beside him, providing business and life advice, encouraging him until the day he died. Yvonne is one of those special people, we keep in touch through emails and I will forever respect her example of friendship and love. I made many trips to Bend during Gerry's final months alive. I miss who he was, not who he became and am still saddened when I think of what drugs and alcohol can do to people we love.
Kathy Mason
I found this published in a Bend Newspaper, in his honor:Survivors include his two sons, Nathan and Joseph; a daughter, Alissa of Visalia, Calif.; his mother of Redmond and father of Portland; a brother, Randal of Portland; former wife, Christine Houck Evans; and companion, Yvonne Richer.
Peter Geiser
Nick, thanks for sharing Jerry's "transitions". I have memories of some of the escapades in high school. Jerry had a wild and magnetic spirit that drew you in. Although I lost contact with him after leaving Salem, I did have occasional contact with him when he later on came to Bend. My real connection though has been with his mother Lois. She has lived in Redmond for many years and became a client of mine 20+ years ago. Lois is an incredibly sweet, enjoyable and positive person. I'm grateful to have the relationship with her.Robert Curtis
A tremendous athlete. Especially football (HS quarterback) and baseball (HS) and softball. Over the years - I had a chance to watch (and play with ) some really great softball players. Gerry was one of the best. In 1982 - 83 I played with him on a team in Portland that included SSHS alums Nick Cloyd, Nick Fulwiler, Bill Bennington, Steve Bjorkman, and Jeff Roselle (occasionally). Gerry played 3rd base and could do it all - a very intelligent player who really "knew" how to play the game. He had a tremendous arm, glove, could hit to ALL fields, and was lightening on the bases. He was quite a salesman and "operator" - meaning he always had some new idea or business cooked up that he was trying to sell or promote. Some got him into trouble. Similar to Steve Bjorkman - he was always a "partier", especially hard near the end, and this lifestyle eventually caught up to him.Elaine Lyles (Zaiger)
Jerry was one of the "neighbor kids" who got together in our So. Salem neighborhood where we played softball, kickball, kick the can, soccer, hide and seek and others when we were in grade school at McKinley. He was always a fun kid and a good athlete, someone you wanted on your team, whether at school or in the neighborhood.I'm so sorry to hear about his later difficulties, but glad to know there were some good friends who kept in touch.