Gerald Paul Pantel

Jerry, as he liked to be called, was born November 9, 1937, in Detroit, Michigan to George L. Pantel and Dorothy (Jones) Pantel. He was followed by 3 sisters: Sharon, Marlene and Alice. His grandparents, Ben and Alice Jones and several aunts and uncles lived in the same neighborhood, and he grew up with many cousins! They always celebrated holidays, family outings and church on Sunday. Jerry’s grandparents and some of the families moved to Denver, CO and Jerry’s family would visit CO on vacations, hoping to move there one day.

George was a foreman at General Motors in Detroit for many years and Jerry attended elementary and middle school there. George became ill, progressively got worse with cancer and hepatitis and passed away in 1951. Dorothy moved the kids to CO to be near her family, It was hard for Dorothy to support her kids and Jerry worked for his uncles to help out his mom. Jerry graduated from Englewood High School, attended one year of college and began working for Martin Marietta Aerospace. He met Judy Comstock on a blind date set up by his coworker in May 1960 and 6 months later, on November 25th, they were married! They almost made it to 65 happy years! Jerry started working in an insurance agency of his own for a few years and then worked for 2 companies doing claims in the Denver area. He was offered a claims job with Scottsdale Insurance Co in AZ and he and Judy moved to AZ in 1989. By this time, they had 2 sons, Jeffrey and Jonathan. Jeff graduated from high school in Lakewood CO and Jon was starting his junior year in high school when they moved to AZ. Jon was a hockey player, and his team won the state tournament in Pueblo the year before he moved to AZ. He continued playing hockey until he graduated from Gilbert High School. Jeff played some basketball but was more into sports memorabilia to the point where Jerry and Jeff opened JP’s Sports Collectibles in Mesa. It was definitely a family business and Jerry and Judy would go to sports shows and collect autographs and anything they could find for the store. Jeff and his wife had two girls, Amber and Taylor, Jerry’s first grandchildren. When the girls were little Jerry loved taking them out to eat and shopping and teaching them how to ride bikes and rollerblade! Jerry was with Scottsdale Insurance until 2003 when he retired as Claims Manager. Judy retired late in 2003, and they went on many vacations, cruises and spent happy days in CA visiting Jon his family: Cole, Hudson and Arden (twins)! The last of the grandchildren! Jerry and Judy held the twins right after they were born and spent quality time with them when they lived in Tuscan. He was proud of all of them and of their accomplishments! Jerry loved all sports, but hockey and baseball were his favorites. He and Judy had season tickets to the Coyotes and Diamondbacks and enjoyed going to the games.

In Jerry’s later years he had many health issues and was in and out of ER rooms often. He always was the main driver when he left the house and kept his car neat and clean. Jerry did all the yard work – trimming trees, pruning bushes, planting flowers – he had a green thumb!

Jerry is survived by wife, Judy; sons Jeffrey (Celeste) and Jonathan (Sandi) – grandchildren: Amber Lynch (Jordan), Taylor Pantel (Travis) & their 2 sons Ace and Paxton in AZ; Cole, Hudson & Arden in CA. He is also survived by sisters: Sharon Shelton (Jerry), Marlene Gasaway (Dick) and Alice Heel (Ted) and sister-in-law, Kandi Sproul in Kansas. He had cousins all over the country and nieces and nephews as well. He led a good life and said he was “ready to retire from life”. We all miss you, Jerry, until we meet again

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