My Favorite Memories

The first quality I always think of when it comes to Jerry is his generosity.  Jerry loved to take care of the people he loved.  I remember the first Christmas we spent together in 1993... he bought me a string of pearls and a set of pearl earrings.  I was so blown away!  I had never gotten jewelry as a gift from a guy before... I had never gotten anything so nice from anyone.  I soon came to understand that Jerry was a little uncomfortable demonstrating his love for people, so he would buy them stuff and give it to them in his funny little straight-faced non-mushy "it's no big deal" manner. 

That Christmas, I was bragging to him about how I could pick out one single day to get all of my Christmas shopping done.  He asked me if I wanted to do his for him, and I said, "Sure!".  Then he gave me his list.  Of course, my eyes just about popped out of my head when he gave me a check for $2400.  For two of the gifts, I got to go to the Galleria to buy Gucci scarves for his Mom and his sister-in-law.  I felt very hoity-toity. 

For my birthday that year, he and some of my coworkers filled my cubicle chest-high with styrofoam packing peanuts.  Under the rubble, he buried a music box... the kind with Italian inlaid wood.  I remember opening it up and seeing the design on the top was wedding bells!  Then I opened it up, and it played 'The Wedding Song'... I don't know the name of it, but there's a line repeated in it ... "There is love".  I thought WHOA!!!  Then I asked him, "Did you know these are wedding bells, and this plays the wedding song."  He said, "I didn't know that!  Do you want me to exchange it for another one?"  I said, "NO WAY!!!!  This is a good omen!"  And it was...  sigh!

Jerry and his brother Junior (Amadeo, Jr.) lived at home well into their working years.  (Jerry until he was 31 and Jr. until he was 36).  Together, they were able to save enough money to buy their parents a house.  For an entire year, the two of them spent virtually every single weekend (and weeknights too) fixing it up for them.  They did EVERYTHING from ripping out paneling and putting up new drywall to ripping out flooring and putting down a wood floor and re-tiling the kitchen and bathroom.  They renovated the entire house by themselves.  I was amazed.  They even put in an automatic foundation watering system.  Jerry and Jr. took great pride in taking care of their parents.

Christmas '95, I told Jerry I was going to try to buy my nephew, Nick, a computer.  He insisted on going in on it with me.  In October '96, we went to Hawaii, and he helped me pay for 1/2 of Nick's plane ticket.

Jerry was generous with his money, but he was more-so generous with his time and care.   Every January we volunteered for the Houston Tenneco / Methodist Hospital marathon.  We drove the delivery trucks that picked up and dropped off water station supplies.  Part of the time, we got to ride in the same truck together.  We had police escorts that would allow us to run all of the red lights downtown.  I remember Jerry bouncing in his seat singing a heavy metal song, "Breakin' the Law, Breakin' the Law". 

Anytime anyone (and I mean anyone) needed help, Jerry was always there.  I can't even count how many times he helped people move to new homes... including me and my sister.  He was always my "put-it-together" guy if I ever bought anything that needed to be assembled.  He was my fix-it guy if anything ever broke. 

I remember my company adopted an elementary school and an elderly person's home to fix up.  He volunteered, even though it wasn't the company he worked for.  He busted his rear cleaning all of the junk out of the guy's backyard, painting, etc... 

I always admired Jerry's generosity.   He was always so quick to lend a humble hand to any worthy cause.   If there was something that needed to be done, it was a given that Jerry would help. 

To say that Jerry was smart is a gross understatement.  He had an Electrical Engineering degree.   He put himself through school by working part-time in an auto parts store.  His brother, Junior, told me that when Jerry was in school, he "was like a machine... he would go to school in the morning, work in the afternoon, and study all evening... everyday." 

Professionally, he was a Software Developer.  He was highly regarded by his company (Bechtel Engineering).  When I spent three months working for Bechtel in the Asia Pacific region, everyone knew his name and everyone had only great things to say about his work.   After he died, his entire department gave his family a presentation of his work.  They had it in a big conference room with overhead demonstrations and everything.  They dedicated the documentation for his software to him in the front of each user manual.

Personally, he could do anything... anything!  He did all of his own car repairs.  I'm talking big stuff... like replacing alternators, brakes, mufflers, and a lot of other things. 

He cooked, and he liked it.  He made the best sandwiches.  I remember we would go home and he would tell me, "You just sit right there, and I'll make you a "sammich".  He liked the double-deckers with the works.  We always made homemade pizza together.  We liked to make strawberry shortcake. 

After he bought his own home, he found a leak in his upstairs shower.  He pulled off the siding on his house, found the leak, fixed it, and put all of the siding back up as well as putting a new frame around the window.  Then, he tore all of the tile out of the shower, put in new heavy-duty backing, and was in the process of re-tiling the whole thing.  (He died before he could finish it.)  His heater was broken, so he figured out the problem, and installed a new heating coil.  He took apart his stairway banister to get a new piece of furniture upstairs, then he put it all back together.  I was always so amazed. 

He was always learning.  He was always curious about how things worked.  One of the most adorable things I remember about him was that if I was telling him about something I read or saw, he would start drilling me with questions about it.  "Well, how do you suppose that worked?  Couldn't it have worked this way?  Are you sure?"  I'd just start laughing and pleading with him to stop.  I'd say, "Aaaaaahhhh!!!!  I don't know!  I don't know!  I didn't do any research or homework on the subject!"