After high school, Gerald joined the Army in 1948, serving in the 101st Division and was stationed in Germany as a Staff Sargent and was discharged in 1952.
He went to work at Torrington, in South Bend, Indiana, and then worked at Studebaker, in South Bend. He then went to work at Bendix Corp., in St. Joseph, Michigan.
In 1953, he married Pauline Derin. They lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan for a while, and then Gerald was offered at job at Consolidated Die Casting, (later called Sealed Power Corp.) in Dowagiac, Michigan. He joined the Society of Die Casting in 1962 and was a Chapter Director for SDCE’S Southwestern Michigan Chapter. While working at Consolidated, Gerald took courses at Southwestern Michigan University and Western Michigan University, when he became a Manufacturing Engineer in 1985.
He also served on the Societies Technical council as Chairman. He was also a longtime member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, where he served as Secretary and President. He received many awards. He was offered the position as Plant Manager for a branch plant in South Bend, Indiana, were he worked until his retirement in 1993.
Gerald and his wife Pauline retired to Sun City West, Arizona. They became members of Our Savior, then Grace, then Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Churches.
Gerald is survived by the love of his life, his wife of 66 years, Pauline, a brother-in-law Frank, and nieces and nephews and a lot of dear friends.
Visitation will be at 10:30am with funeral starting at 11am on Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at Sunland Mortuary in Sun City.
