Gerald Delaine Schmidt

Jerry was born in Fairbury, Illinois on September 1, 1945 to Pearl and Frank Schmidt. He attended Fairbury Cropsey High School. He continued his education at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale where he completed his Bachelor of Science in Technology. He then attended Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville and received his Master of Business Administration. Jerry fought for his country in the Vietnam War and earned a National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal, a Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 Device, a Bronze Star Medal and two Overseas Bars. After the Vietnam War, he served in the United States Army Reserves where he reached the rank of Major.

Jerry married Nicole Ferrari in 1967 in North Riverside, Illinois. Together they had two children, Scott Schmidt (Rona) of Aurora, Colorado and Traci Nelson (Mike) of Firestone, Colorado. Jerry worked for IBM from June of 1968 until his retirement in March of 2010. Jerry and Nicki moved from Collinsville, Illinois to Longmont, Colorado in November of 1982.

Jerry was a member of BCARES, LARK and his local Senior Center. His hobbies included genealogy, ham radio and computers. He participated in the Boys Scouts of America with his son Scott in earlier years. In his later years, he loved helping seniors at the Senior Center resolve issues on their computers and cell phones.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Nicole Schmidt, his son, Scott Schmidt (Rona) and daughter, Traci Nelson (Mike), sisters, Betty Schmidt, and Patti Roach, grandchildren, Justin Nelson (Valarie), Easton Nelson (MaKenzie), and Avery Nelson and great-grandchildren, Rose Nelson, nephew, Kevin Roach (Jessica) and niece Kelli Roach. He was predeceased by his parents, Frank Schmidt and Pearl Schmidt.