Jerry Gudgel was born in a farmhouse January 25, 1936 just east of Chowchilla, California on the Pacheco Pass Highway. He worked alongside his mother and father at the Ahwahnee sanatorium serving food to tuberculosis patients. After graduating high school he had saved enough money to attend college. Soon after he would join the Marines and serve on the aircraft carrier the Bon Homme Richard. It was the Marine Corp uniform that led him to meet his wife Janet McDonald in San Francisco, they married in just a few months and stayed together 52 years until his death. They had three sons; Gary, Jeff and Jon. Jerry enjoyed fixing things. From cars to homes he did it all himself. When he retired from years of working at UPS and other trucking companys he left Seattle for Ellensburg. He moved an acre of rocks by hand so he could have a nice lawn. The land was pretty sparce, so he planted trees. Nothing grows very well in the windy hills above Ellensburg so he had to baby those trees. He couldn't afford to visit with anyone for more than a couple days, claiming he had to get home to water his trees. When he had everything just right on the ranch and had no work to do he would build a shed, then another one, or two. When there was no more to build he moved to Vancouver, Washington to be closer to me his youngest son and for another project home. Everyday he worked on that house, putting in a new kitchen, bathroom, and before he passed he was kicking around the idea of building a shed at the new place. Jerry worked hard until the end. He went to bed as normal April 6th, 2008 and passed away peacfully shortly afterwards.

We will plan to spred my fathers ashes on those dang Ellensburg trees in a very informal memorial soon. We hope some of you can be there to share some memories. We'll let you know when we plan to do this.

Thank you all for being such good friends and family to my dad. He valued you all,
Jon Gudgel