Jerry Eugene Brewer

Jerry Eugene Brewer passed away on Saturday, July 5, 2025, at The Reserve at Katy Assisted Living and Memory Care, due to complications from Parkinson’s Disease. Jerry was born on July 10, 1939, in Fort Worth, Texas to Eugene Bolden Brewer and Marcia Jane Ramsey. His mother passed away when he was eight months old and he was raised by his grandparents, Samuel Walpole Brewer and Bessie Dean (Brewer), eventually relocating to Houston, Texas. Jerry’s father later married Merlene Burton and Jerry had two half-sisters, Verna Jean Brewer (Dobbs) and Janet Sue “Susie” Brewer (Albert.) He was very close to his uncles, Melvin Brewer and Owen Brewer; and his aunt, Nellie Pauline “Polly” Brewer (Palmer). Through Jerry’s uncle Owen he developed an interest in trains and received his first model railroad set for Christmas when he was about seven years old, sparking a lifelong passion for models, trains, and all forms of transportation. As a child, he often visited family Oklahoma and went on a road trip with his maternal grandparents to Arizona.

Jerry graduated from Charles H. Milby High School in Houston and attended the University of Houston, majoring in Architecture, before he was drafted to serve in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. He was proud of his two tours of service, between 1965 and 1969, as a Navy Seabee with Mobile Construction Battalion #22: training at Fort Hueneme in California and in Gulfport, Mississippi before being stationed in-country near Danang. Following his military service, Jerry worked as a model builder and draftsman for almost every major oil and gas engineering company in Houston including Brown and Root (now KBR), Gulf (now Chevron), S&B, M.W. Kellogg, and Jacobs Engineering. During his time as a professional model builder, he was honored to be chosen to travel with his models to construction sites in many states– and even to the Kingdom of Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf. He also enjoyed working privately to provide architectural plans and designs for private residences and church projects. When model building ceased to be a viable field, he pivoted to other opportunities; eventually retiring as a University of Texas police officer, providing security at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Jerry married Virginia Lynne Tibbs on December 11, 1965, with whom he lived in Houston, Alief, and Katy; welcoming two daughters: Jennifer Lynne “Jenny” Brewer (Trevino) in 1970 and Rebecca Lee “Becca” Brewer (Patterson) in 1972. Through Rebecca, he has a grandson and a granddaughter: Jackson Ilya Patterson and Polly Yana Patterson.

Throughout Jerry’s life he was a member of the Houston S-Gaugers model railroad club with lifelong friends Fred “Rusty” Paulus, Bob Werre, and Jack Troxell; and enjoyed traveling to conventions– where he won frequent awards for his model kit conversions– and built a section of his club’s modular layout, which he took to annual displays and programs at Memorial City Mall and the Texas City Convention Center. He also worked on the model railroad displays at the Galveston Railroad Museum, which were sadly lost during Hurricane Ike. He built S-gauge railroad layouts in his homes in Pasadena, Alief, and Katy, as well as an outdoor G-Gauge layout. After his Parkinson’s became too advanced to work in S-gauge, his wife and daughters helped him to build an HO-gauge layout that took over the dining room at his Katy house and created another small layout in his room at The Reserve at Katy memory care unit. Jerry was very skilled at construction and woodworking and built furniture and cabinetry, backyard playhouses and forts for his daughters, and helped to frame and construct homes and additions for his family and friends. He was further honored to serve as a Deacon and Men’s Sunday School teacher for many years, first at Forest Oaks Baptist Church (where he also played on the softball team and designed and helped build the Church’s monument sign) and then at First Baptist Church of Alief, where he served as Head Deacon and chaired many committees including Ordinance, Finance, Building and Grounds.

Jerry never met a stranger and enjoyed making others laugh with his repertoire of “dad” jokes. He enjoyed traveling and took his young family on annual vacations with his sisters, siblings-in-law, nieces, and nephews– as well as close family friends, Patsy and Allen Womack and their two children, Shawn (Wokaty) and Thomas Womack– at Garner State Park and later, the Guadalupe River. After his daughters grew up, he and his wife, Virginia, enjoyed taking cruises and road trips with Patsy and Allen, as well as Mary Nelle and Jack Figart and Nancy and Ramon Harbin. He and Virginia toured the Holy Land and later visited Spain with his daughter Jenny and daughter-in-law Gracie, where he enjoyed seeing the sights in Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona, including the architectural wonders Sagrada Familia cathedral and Park Güell, designed by Antoni Gaudí. He and Virginia also traveled with Jenny and Gracie to New Orleans to visit the World War II Museum, a “bucket list” trip for him.

Jerry is preceded in death by his mother Marcia Jane Ramsey (Brewer), Father Eugene Bolden Brewer, sister Verna Jean Brewer (Dobbs), brothers-in-law Ramon Harbin and Wayne Dobbs, and grandson Riley Owen Patterson.

He is survived by his wife, Virginia, Daughters Jennifer and Rebecca, Son-in-Law Michael Paul Patterson and daughter-in-law Graciela Daria “Gracie” Trevino, grandson and granddaughter Polly and Jackson, brother-in-law Dennis Wayne Tibbs, sister-in-law Patricia Ann “Patty” Reagan (Tibbs), sister-in-law Nancy Gayle Tibbs (Harbin, then Wheeler), sister Janet Sue “Susie” Brewer (Albert), brother-in-law Charles “Chuck” Albert, Jr, niece Kay Ann Dobbs (Cruz), nephew Stephen Dobbs, niece Tara Denise Tibbs (Alexander), niece Lisa Kaye Harbin (Hart), nephew Todd Michael Tibbs, nephew Charles “Charlie” Albert III, and many great-nephews and -nieces.

Jerry was a beloved and supportive son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend: touching many lives with his generosity, creativity, and humor. He will be dearly missed.