Gerald Edward Pease Jr.

Cape native Gerald (Jerry) Pease, Jr., 76, of Centerville, MA, died peacefully in his sleep on 27 June, 2023, after a period of declining health. He was the son of Gerald Pease, Sr. and Esther (Raitto) Brown and the third son in the blended family that included a step sister, Siri (Brown) Peterson, older half-brothers James and Donald Brown, and younger sister Vicki (Pease) Marchant. He always referred to his siblings as sisters and brothers, leaving out the ‘step’ and ‘half’ reference because of the love of family instilled in him by his parents. His brother Don and sister Vicki survive him.

Jerry made his first friends at Centerville Elementary School and remained close to each of them through high school and beyond. They enjoyed a 1950’s childhood, teen-aged years with their heads under the hood of several cars, and in the year after graduation from Barnstable High School, they volunteered for military service with the Army National Guard during the war in Vietnam. Their unit, Battery C, 4th Howitzer Battalion, 211th Artillery, was activated and deployed to Vietnam. As a Private E-2, Jerry earned the military qualification of Sharpshooter in July of 1966 and was prepared to leave with his unit when his life was brought to a standstill by a near fatal car accident in August of that year.

Surviving several months in a coma, he managed his recovery with the strength of Finnish sisu, a trait inherited from his mother, and relearned how to walk, talk, read and write. In spite of living with traumatic brain injury, Jerry worked several jobs in the restaurant field before being hired by the Town of Barnstable. He spent twenty years working at the Waste Water Treatment Plant and retired to enjoy life with his longtime partner Christine Civitaresse.

Together they enjoyed bingo, tour travels, rides around the Cape in one of his several Corvettes, and cribbage, at which Jerry was a championship player and member in good standing of the American Cribbage Congress. He was also a long-time member of the Hyannis BPO Elks and Federated Church of Hyannis.

Graveside services at Crocker Cemetery in West Barnstable were private. If you wish to donate to a cause close to Jerry’s heart, please consider the MSPCA in Centerville. You can donate directly to the Centerville facility on their website at Centerville MSPCA.