Jerry Signer

Jerry is a joyful, giving and caring man who had two homes, one in Switzerland, the other in the Bay Area. He was born in Huntington, Long Island and moved to Switzerland at age 3. School was not his forte though he enjoyed and was good at math. What he loved most was doing things with his hands. He loved fixing old things, restoring broken things, creating new things. Coffee makers, hairdryers, clocks, carburetors, sofas, windows – if there was something wrong with it, Jerry was interested in picking it apart and putting it back together. He was the helpful kid around the home and the village. Jerry was also a social child and has a fun mischievous to him. His friends were often his partners in crime. When Jerry really wanted a guinea pig around age 9 and his parents refused, he arranged with his buddies to buy one and had them bring it to him on his birthday. He acted completely surprised when they presented him with the “gift.” The joke was on him though, because they picked a pregnant guinea pig, so instead of one, they soon ended with nearly half a dozen little piggies in the house. Jerry always reminisced about listening and dancing to the likes of Pink Floyd and ABBA, and just enjoying good times with his friends. The importance of his friends would be the theme through his life.After his childhood surrounded by a loving family, electrical engineering training and military service, he crossed the Atlantic to explore the brave new frontier of Redwood City exactly 25 years ago. For the first few years, Jerry would evaluate every year and weigh the pros and cons of returning to Switzerland vs. staying in Bay Area. When he finally bought a house in Fremont 21 years ago, the same house where he and Phoebe have been living, the decision was made. Suburbia East Bay was chosen over charming Swiss village life.The home Jerry created in Fremont turned out pretty well. He met Phoebe in 1999 at a singles ski lodge in Lake Tahoe, and it was and instant match. When they met, they both drove the same car and had on his and her matching watches. They both loved skiing too, given how they met, and the outdoors. True to his helpful nature, Jerry was always volunteering with organizations like Habitat for Humanity or joining groups like the Emergency Response Team at work. Jerry was the consummate team player, and he was loved greatly for his enthusiasm and positive energy. He was also open to new ideas. Fishing was one of them. Before, he always said that the only way he enjoyed fishing was doing it at Safeway… until one day when his supervisor brought Jerry a fresh catch and Jerry was hooked, so to speak, on going out on fishing trips with his friends. The exercise group Bootcampers at work was another activity he loved. The workout helped him finished a half marathon in Monterey last November and he was planning on doing a full one at Big Sur come April.Outside of work, Jerry had a group he called the three Musketeers – three Swiss guys in Bay Area who worked together over a decade ago and bonded. The Swiss cookies they made together over Christmas was one tradition that Jerry did not like to miss.Home life was as abundant as the garden he and Phoebe created. To demonstrate his love for Phoebe and his encouragement for her interest in gardening, Jerry designed and built the garden shed, created the vegetable raised beds and installed the entire automatic irrigation system. He had many other home improvement projects around the house too: light fixtures, new windows, house painting, woodworking on a new kitchen top. When he and Phoebe were not lovingly taking care of their home, they were hiking in the Alps, the Swiss, French, Austrian and Italian sides, or camping around the US in their personalized home on wheel. For his 50th birthday this past summer, Jerry and Phoebe hiked up the Speers which is a strenuous rocky mountain close to where he grew up. He said that was the best birthday present he could’ve asked for.So this is Jerry – a helpful, kind-hearted, conscientious, energetic man that we all love and remember.