Thurman Eugene "Ted" GIER

Thurman "Ted" Eugene Gier Of Chadds Ford, PA. Age 75. Died at home after a long illness. A Celebration of Life/Memorial Service will be held for Ted June 6 at 1st Unitarian Church, 730 Halstead Rd., Wilm., DE. All are invited. Ted was born in Conrad, IA Feb. 27, 1924 to Eugene and Harriet Thurman Gier. He attended Albany, NY public schools until winning a scholarship to the Albany Academy from which he graduated in 1941. He enrolled in Engineering School at the University of Michigan, but left college in 1943 to enter the Army as an enlistee. During training, he contracted rheumatic fever which led to a medical discharge in 1945. In the same year, he married Ethel Baldwin and returned to Ann Arbor where he completed requirements for a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MS in 1947. For the next 2 years he worked at the GE Research Laboratories in Schenectady, NY as an Associate Chemist. With a National Science Foundation Fellowship, he completed requirements for a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polythechnic Institute in 1951. The family moved to Wilmington, DE that year when Ted took a position with the Central Research Dept. of the DuPont Co. at the Experimental Station. Ted joined the 1st Unitarian Church in 1964, was active in the Limestone Acres Maintenance Association, a Bridge Master, led Great Books discussion groups and sang with the church choir and the "interpretors". He earned a Master's degree in Counseling from the University of Delaware, in 1980 and provided counseling through the Tressler Center for several years. Retiring from DuPont Co. in 1982, he continued to provide consultation with DuPont until 1985, when he took a Visiting Scientist position at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the Inorganic Chemistry Dept. During this time he also provided consultation with Air Products Corp in Allentown, PA, with Applied Optics in Newark, DE, and with the Chemistry Dept. at the University of Delaware. Ted lived in Chadds Ford since 1970 and for part of each year since 1985, in Goieta, CA. He is survived by his wife, Maybelle (Bella) Cescon Gier RN of Chadds Ford; 4 daughters, Susan Gier of Port Norris, NJ, Dr. Gail Larkin of McMinville, OR, Alison Totten of Lake Mohawk, NJ and Amy Boyd of Newark, DE; 2 grandchildren, Laura and David Boyd of Newark; niece, Janet White of San Jose, CA; nephew, Eric Gier of Carpinteria, CA; numerous cousins, aunts and uncles. His brother, Jerome "Jerry", died in Pittsburgh in 1982. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions in Ted's name to Delaware Hospice, 3135 Silverside Rd., Wilmington, DE 19810. Arrangements by Schobert Funeral Home Philadelphia