Jerry Gilland was reunited with his beloved bride Janet on May 28, 2024. He was 91 years young and had been dealing with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) for the past eight years. But he lived a full life and never let his disease define his life.
Jerry grew up on a farm in south-central Minnesota and attended school in Morgan, which is where he met Janet (Menk). They were high school sweethearts. Jerry continued his education at the University of Minnesota, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
His first job was with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. At that time, Los Alamos was a secret government town with high security. LANL or “the Lab” as it was known, was where the first atomic bombs were developed. However, Jerry did not work in the department of defense; he was in research and designed missile guidance systems.
In 1962, Jerry accepted a position with Ball Brothers Research Corporation which later became Ball Aerospace (now BAE Systems) in Boulder, Colorado. While at Ball, Jerry worked on the Orbiting Solar Observatory program and designed instruments that went to Venus. He was a Senior Executive and managed many programs that created instruments to study other planets and the moon.
While working full time, Jerry earned a Master’s Degree of Science in Industrial Management from Purdue University. After Jerry retired in 1989, he created a software program to help engineering managers analyze, rank and manage risks, and he taught Master’s level engineering management classes at University of Colorado for 5 years.
Jerry had a passion for building model railroad trains, and he built a huge layout with dozens of buildings, locomotives, different track gauges, and surrounding villages. He also created numerous museum-quality ship models, many of which were built from “scratch”, not using a kit or any pre-made parts. Jerry was a longtime member of the Boulder Model Railroad Club.
Jerry and Janet wholeheartedly supported the CU Buffaloes athletic programs and had season football tickets since 1963. They later added season tickets to both men’s and women’s basketball games and were avid fans. Boulder Philharmonic concerts and presentations were also very important to both Janet and Jerry.
In 1998, Jerry started volunteering with Canine Companions for Independence, training puppies to be service dogs for individuals with mobility challenges. Every 18 months, he and Janet would adopt a new puppy to train.
Foothills Kiwanis Club of Boulder provided Jerry with many opportunities to give back to the community. At the request of a fellow member, Jerry created the Alert Dogs for Kids Program, and he started to train dogs to detect dangerous allergens for children with severe allergies. Eventually, the program evolved to provide alert dogs for children with Type 1 Diabetes. Jerry trained over 40 puppies, more than 25 of which were specifically trained to alert their child to dangerous insulin highs and lows. This, by far, was the most gratifying project in Jerry’s life and something he was extremely proud of. While being interviewed for Channel 7’s “Everyday Heroes” segment, Jerry said “I have hardware that I was responsible for that is on the planet Venus. I’ve got something on the moon. I can now honestly say I get more satisfaction handing a leash of a puppy to a needy child than anything I ever did professionally.”
Jerry is survived by son Bruce (Kathy), daughter Sue (Mark) Lathrop and daughter Cindy Gilland, as well as his brother Steve Gilland. Grandchildren (and spouses) are Miles, Parker, Kaitlin (Kyle), Austin, Nick, (Madisson), and Emma (Christian).
Jerry was preceded in death by his parents Frank and Crystal Gilland and his wife Janet.
There will be a private family gathering at the cemetery. Donations can be made to the
Alert Dog Program at Foothillskiwanis.org
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