Gerald LeRoy Waterbury

Gerald LeRoy Waterbury
A resident of Yuma, AZ., passed from his life on earth, into the loving presence of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at the age of 87. Jerry was born November 19,1935 at home, in a small trailer that his parents built, in Sumas, Washington. Born to Raymond and Elsie Waterbury. His first bed was a dresser drawer that they used as his crib.
Jerry's family lived on Guemes island. He and his siblings attended sheep, and weeded the berry fields while his parents were at work.
Around the age of 14, Jerry started working on commercial fishing boats during the summer's. Dad met many colorful men, learned life lessons, and had an assortment of stories that he love to tell.
Gerald said he never thought his dad truly knew how old he was, as he always expected him to do things that kids his age wouldn't normally do. For example, there was the time his dad had him take over driving the truck in a snowstorm on Stevens Pass. When the truck slid on some ice, his father yelled at him and said "who taught you to drive?" Dad kept silent, but in his head he said "nobody, I don't even have my license yet and I'm too young to drive." He must have been close to 15yrs., old.
One of the stories Jerry loved to share, was about a car he owned as a teen. He had a Ford V8 car that he modified, so that it would make a deep, loud rumble. His brother-in-law also had one, but it was a family car and his wife wouldn't let him modify his. Gerald's sister called the cars twins as they both painted them green. Jerry's car was the noisy one and the Anacortes police had an eye out for it since it was so loud. One day his brother-in-law came into town and was mistakenly pulled over. Another time his mother's car wasn't working, so she borrowed Jerry's car to go into work. On her way home from work that night she got pulled over by the police. " What's wrong officer?"she said "Did I do something wrong?" The officer, surprised to see an older woman in the car says, "no ma'am, I just wanted to see your car," as he shined his flashlight inside. Dad said they never did pull him over.
Jerry graduated from Western Washington with a teaching degree. He earned his masters in education. He began his career in the Evergreen school district, located in Vancouver Washington eventually retiring from Benson Polytechnic high, in Portland, Oregon.
One of Gerald's passions was history and sharing his knowledge with others. You could never get together without him saying, "you know, I was just thinking" or "did you know ?" And hours later he was still talking. Dad loved to share his past experiences in a storytelling way. Other passion's of Gerald's was restoring old cars, gardening and making his yard beautiful with lots of colorful flowers and landscaping. He was a talented woodworker, and always looking for home-improvement projects. He enjoyed boats and being out on the water. He loved to dance and liked country music. He was a man of many talents, except for when it came to electronic gadgets, like cell phones and computers and singing.
Gerald is survived by his three children. Cheryl Kenimer (Steve), Greg, andTom Waterbury (Shelia). Four grandchildren, Jason, Stacy, Stephanie and Austin. Three great grandchildren, Benjamin, Hunter, and Hazel. He is survived by his sister Betty Meyer, brother Karl Waterbury and was proceeded in death by his sister Ardell Delgadillo. Gerald leaves behind nieces and nephews.
Gerald lived a full life, but it was too short for those that love him, and he will be missed, but we know we'll see him again in eternity. We miss you dad.
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