Jerry Vernon Blanke

Jerry was born on June 15th, 1959, along with his twin sister Joani, in Anaheim, California to Dolly Jean Blanke and Paul Vernon Blanke Sr. He had four siblings: Bonnie, Bruce, Joani and Paul Jr. “Bink”. He married Kimberly Paige Watson, the mother of his two children, in the spring of 1988, in Murrieta, California.

Jerry attended Canyon High School class of 1977 where he excelled at auto shop, was a teacher’s assistant and due to his extensive knowledge was chosen to represent Canyon High School, entering the Plymouth Troubleshooting competition. The object was the fastest team to get their car running wins. Unfortunately, his team didn’t have a chance to win due to an unforeseen stripped distributor gear. Jerry's first car was a 64 Chevy II Nova that he restored including: rebuilding the engine, installing the drive train and interior. Representing Canyon High, the engine was put on display at the Orange mall, along with exhibits from other schools throughout the area. Canyon’s exhibit was far superior. Although Jerry's mischievous side would sometimes get him in trouble it’s what drove him to learn and develop his mechanical and design skills. Halloween was a special time for Jerry where his creativity and use of automation would create effects and spook houses that were remarkable. He worked as a machinist/tooling automation designer all his life where his extensive mechanical knowledge was utilized in various industries. Right out of high school he worked at California Vibratory Feeders (Cal Vibe) where he incorporated vibratory feeder bowls into custom production equipment. Each equipment was designed per customer specific requirements, to facilitate part orientation and assembly on rapid assembly production lines. Hunter Sprinklers was a client of Cal Vibe, who recognized Jerry's unique talent and offered him a job to help them develop their production lines. Jerry accepted their offer and one of the benefits was free sprinkler heads for friends and family. During Jerry's employment with Callaway Golf, amongst his many accomplishments, was recognized for three United States Patents: in 2001 for an ingenious method and apparatus of installing golf club grips, another in 2003 for an apparatus assembling a shaft to a golf club head and 2012 for an interchangeable shaft for a golf club. In all instances the owner, Mr. Callaway himself, invited Jerry to his office to personally thank and congratulate him. Jerry returned to Cal Vibe for a few years until most recently where he worked for Inari Medical contributing his expertise to help create equipment for the development and production of life saving products. Although his time with Inari was brief, his sense of humor, calm and kindness left a lasting memory with his coworkers. Jerry loved Inari and Inari loved him. Jerry loved his family and would proudly speak of the accomplishments of his children Brittney and Jesse. Coming from a relatively large family he loved to talk about memories of his childhood, at a very young age Mom and Dad knew he was gifted mechanically as one day when he disassembled a toy, riding, peddle tractor just to see how it worked. With little faith that he could, Mom shouted “you put that back together” much to her surprise, he did, and it worked perfectly.

Jerry loved classic movies and TV shows like I Love Lucy, The Wizard of Oz, and classic monster movies like the Mummy, Frankenstein, and Dracula. He loved vegetable gardening; tomatoes, squash and strawberries. He loved animals; his cat named "Bert" and dog named "Bear". Jerry especially loved trains as a child he had an HO scale train layout and used to ride his bike to the train tracks to watch the trains as they went by. He often spoke of the Union Pacific “Big Boy” as his favorite at an Awe-inspiring 132 feet long and 6000 horsepower. He also enjoyed trips to Knott's Berry Farm with the family where he undoubtedly spent time riding and viewing their steam engine.

He is survived by his daughter and son: Brittney and Jesse Blanke and Brother: Paul Blanke Jr. “Bink”. Nieces and nephews: April, Janell, Courtney, Jacquie, Sabrina, Caitlin, Mindy, Jodi, Brian, Cody, Christian, Steven, Angelica, Bethany, Kaylie, Jessica, Justin, Alex, Benjamin, Naomi, Maila, Violet and Bradley.

He is preceded in death by his wife: Kimberly. Sister: Bonnie, and twin sister Joani. Brother: Bruce. Mother: Dolly Jean and Father: Paul V Blanke Sr.

Jerry was a good man that loved God. His commitment to the lord enabled him to navigate the challenging times and give thanks for the many blessings he received. He was a loving father, great brother, devoted friend, and left a lasting, positive, impression with everyone that knew him.

Jerry’s service will be held on Saturday July 29th from 1pm-2pm at Fairhaven Memorial Park, Legacy Chapel, located at 1702 Fairhaven Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705.