A star athlete at San Bernardino High School, he was drafted senior year by the Brooklyn Dodgers, but chose instead to accept a scholarship to attend University of Southern California on an athletic scholarship playing both football and baseball. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.
Jerry’s degree led to a career at Shell Oil Company, which spanned 35-plus years with various positions across the country, the last in Houston, Texas, before retiring to Incline Village, Nevada, in 1999. During his 30-plus years of retirement, Jerry was in his element completing a full-house renovation project. He and his wife, Joan, enjoyed a multitude of outdoor activities on and around Lake Tahoe. Being a member of Rotary International, Jerry was honored to serve as president of the Incline Village Noon Rotary Club. Jerry was the go-to man for help on any Rotary project.
Throughout their years together, Jerry and Joan traveled widely throughout the world with friends and family -- highlights being trekking to the source of the Ganges River in the Himalayan mountains, hiking the Appalachian trail, touring safaris in Africa, and sailing in the Caribbean, and it all started with a 1971 month-long tour of Europe with the kids, guided by Frommer’s Europe on $5 a Day and equipped with a jar of Tang!
Jerry was a lifelong fisherman beginning as a child with his father at Big Bear Lake in California and continuing with friends — bone fishing around Christmas Island and annual trips fly-fishing in Montana with his college pals were wonderful memories.
Along with his wife, Joan, Jerry is survived by his children Cathy Stow (Peter) of London, England, Christa Amsden (Neal) of Los Altos, California, and Scott Hagy of Bullard, Texas, as well as grandchildren Rob Hagy, Claire Amsden, and Verity Amsden. Jerry is also survived by his sister, Donna Lee Parker of Eugene, Oregon, and sister-in-law, Donna Lee Hagy of Canton, Georgia.
Jerry was a loving family man and steadfast friend to many and will be sorely missed. He was a gentle and kind man with a giant heart.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to American Heart Association.
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