Donald Joseph Gerards

We are here to honor the memory of a true renaissance man: Donald Joseph Gerards. A renaissance man is defined as a person with multiple areas of expertise. I know this because Don Gerards once described Benjamin Franklin as a renaissance man, which confused me because I thought that meant Franklin lived during the renaissance.

Renaissance man Donald Gerards was an International Airport Architect, Deacon Board chairman, Bible Study Fellowship teacher, musician, choir director, and hymn leader. Because of all these areas of expertise, he will be remembered by many people in many different ways. For his wife Karleen, son and daughter Nathan and Kristi, son and daughter-in-law Jon and Mara, and his grandchildren Isla, Luca, and Gideon - Donald Gerards will be remembered as an incredible husband, father, and grandfather.

Donald Gerards was born to Kurt Gerards and Frieda Struve Gerards on November 21st, 1942 in Kennewick, WA. Kurt was an electrical engineer for Church’s Grape Juice & later Kennewick high school. Frieda was a school bus driver. Donald graduated from Kennewick High School in 1961. He worked on a combine in the wheat farms outside Kennewick to pay tuition at the University of Washington, graduating in 1966. Three weeks after graduation, he married his high school sweetheart: Karleen Marie Gerards - a fellow renaissance musician, teacher, ESL counselor.

After graduating cum laude from the University of Washington, Don was hired by The Richardson Associates (TRA) and immediately joined the planning team for SeaTac International Airport expansion 1966-1970. Don told us the following as his guiding architectural philosophy: Any beautiful airport must be designed for a rural grandmother who has never traveled by plane, making it to the gate relaxed and on time. This was the same for any of his future terminal planning projects: Samoa, Guam, Korea, Philippines, Tel-Aviv, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and over 43 airports in the United States, Alaska, and Canada. This is Don’s conclusion from one of his many papers and presentations:

“In the end, good architecture is a thoughtful response to human needs and capacities, human nature and culture, human desires and aspirations”

Every time the family traveled without him, Don’s immediate concern was how quickly it took to get from deboard to baggage claim, baggage claim to arrival gate, arrival gate to destination, and if we took photos.

While studying at the University of Washington, Don joined the University Christian Union (UCU House) and made lifelong friends with the residents. This group became frequent attendees to Shakespeare Festivals, then later formed a committee for new spiritual foundation: Evergreen Baptist Church (EBC). Don was appointed Deacon chair, a position he held until the late 1990s. In this position, Don’s spiritual legacy and leadership was tested and shined: doing what was right every time, even during difficult pastoral changes, even if that meant losing congregants.

Don was also a beloved EBC choir director and hymn leader. His spiritual soul mate Karleen was also his accompaniment: Pianist, Organist, and teacher. Both did what they loved: praising Jesus’ name through music. Outside EBC, Don was also a weekly Bible Study Fellowship teacher and leader - both home and abroad in his travels.

Don became an avid sailboat skipper with EBC friends Jess Kristis and Vince Norberg - the three of them hand built and raced matching boats. On any given windy white-capped day, he would look out on Lake Washington and proclaim “Wow, I wish I could be out there right now”.

Don’s biggest architectural accomplishment outside airports was designing the Gerards’ family home in 1977. He filled this home with a treasure trove of his airport schematics, photographs, drawings, sketches - many we will pass onto future generations, future artists, future architects. His home also contains his beautiful drawing of their honeymoon cabin and a glorious impressionist watercolor painting of Queen Anne house lights above Lake Union.

Don’s architectural projects eventually led to a private practice, culminating in his planning work on Hong Kong International airport. This led to Don and Karleen’s relocation to Hong Kong from 1999-2001. The greatest joy of Don and Karleen’s time and travels in Hong Kong, China and Mongolia was meeting fellow christians and missionaries. These included our future friends and present, eternal family members: Oggie and Nauchea. They are a huge blessing to the Gerards’ family.

After September 11, 2001, the Airport business changed and took a downturn. Don did a lot of various consulting work after September 11th. This included ticketless travel updates for SeaTac, Fairbanks, and Anchorage. This also included the intersection between security corridor and baggage claim in Toronto and returning full circle to American Samoa.

God is both above all things and uniting all things. Above and uniting everything Don did, he was a faithful servant to the Lord Jesus Christ: rising daily with prayer, living every moment in word, every deed in devotion. Don was an imperfect sinner, but always struggling towards truth, honesty, and fidelity; always striving to err on the side of righteousness. Don lived his life knowing full well that “faith without works is death” (James 2:14). Don had a lifelong belief in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross (John 3:16), and his loved ones can therefore rejoice with him in his eternal heavenly inheritance, presence, and home.

I have it on good authority that angels are now rejoicing because of Don Gerards’ new terminal design to heaven’s arrival gate. Thankfully, Don will be free of contractors trying to cut costs to his designs - having all now seen the errors of their ways in God’s holy presence.

May Don’s memory be a blessing. The correct conclusion to this service is how Don Gerards concluded every service: with the singing of the doxology Hymn. We will now do our best to approximate his booming oration. Here it goes. Sing it now:

“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen”