Jerry was a much loved member of Cleveland's North Coast Controlliners. I met him at one of the first meetings I attended at Wayne Buran's house, where he showed us his newly re-created "Patriot." At that time I didn't know that he had flown this plane at the World Championships with Bill Werwage, but I marveled at his exquisite workmanship. Not long after this, in 2002, I made the trip to Tucson for VSC-14 and marveled at his flying ability. The "Patriot" took the Concours award, as his and bill's models occupied the front row. Gerry was generous and caring, giving me two Sky Rays to use for practice - which I did at that time. They suffered the fates of all such planes used for training, each being repaired multiple times, until the last (red) one bit the dust once too often. After it had languished in a box for over a decade, and I had built some of my own designs, I guess I got a bit sentimental and re-built it. I'm still flying Jerry's (or was this one Merry's?) Sky Ray and think of him every time I take it up. It flies fine, even if I don't. Even in poor health that interfered with his ability, he looked awfully good to me out there in his less frequent appearances at our field. The pictures are of Jerry and Bill at VSC-14, Jerry at VSC in 2016 (not my photo), Jerry and Merry at our field in 2014, and the red SkyRay that Jerry gave me, after I rebuilt it.
If you see this, Merry, please accept my heartfelt condolences and thanks for your friendship.
Edit: The two last pictures (Restored "SkyRay" and Jerry's "Patriot" were supposed to have been sequenced, but somehow were left out.