- Date Of Birth: November 29, 1928
- Date Of Death: June 27, 2011
- State: Idaho
Gerald B. Conger, DVM of Caldwell passed away Monday June 27, 2011 at the age of 82. Well known for sharing his time with the Community of Caldwell and surrounding areas. Over the last decade he and other Rotarians have brought dictionaries and reading tutorship to many area elementary schools. Third graders at Van Buren, West Canyon, and Lewis & Clark Elementary Schools have been the juice that filled Jerry’s batteries as he tutored, offered reading help, and introduced chess to the classes. He was honored with several appreciation awards from the Caldwell School District and named the 1998 Rotarian of The Year.
Many pet owners knew Jerry as a compassionate, intelligent and dedicated veterinarian. He established Conger Small Animal Hospital in 1958. After 29 years of practice, he sold the clinic in 1987 to Bill Pilcher, DVM. He continued as a relief veterinarian at seven animal hospitals until 1995.
Veterinary medicine was his avocation as well as vocation. He became involved in mentoring pre-vet students from the College of Idaho; serving on and presiding over the Idaho State Board of Veterinary Examiners (1967-71); serving as officers including president of the Southwest Idaho Veterinary Medical Association (1967-71) and of the Idaho Veterinary Medical Association (1971-1977).
With the onset of WWII, father Charles was commissioned into the Army Air Corps in 1942 and moved to Rocky Ford, CO, where he was stationed at nearby La Junta Army Air Field. Jerry and his brother Chuck, two years his younger, spent a year on their Uncle Rhea De Oliveria’s Fort Sumner, NM ranch. It was in this rural/agricultural environment that Jerry developed his affection for animals which eventually led him into Veterinary Medicine. The following year he moved to Rocky Ford, CO where he lived with the Plant family and worked on the Robertson Dairy. Known in high school as “Red,” he played football and ran track.
After graduating from Rocky Ford High School in 1946 with 57 classmates, he and a few fellow graduates went to enroll at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. He studied animal husbandry, and became a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. Needing more funds to continue college, Jerry worked construction in Rocky Ford and Pomona and served as a survey chainman on one of his father’s survey crews.
Jerry enlisted in United States Coast Guard on August 3, 1948 at Long Beach, CA. In May 1949 he attended Radio School at Groton, CT and then onto Aviation Electronic School in Elizabeth City, NC. From May 1950 until July 1951 he served as a radioman on a PBY-5A Catalina based on the Territorial Island of Guam.
He also met and courted a fellow CSU student. Shirley Lawrenson of Greeley, CO and Jerry Conger were married September 6, 1953 in Greeley. During the next four years of school their first son Steven was born. Following the receipt of his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1957, they moved to Bozeman, MT to practice and where their second son Kenneth was born. In 1958 they moved to Caldwell where they lived in their newly established Veterinarian Clinic.
Jerry is survived by his brother Charles and Chris (Las Vegas, NV); wife Shirley; children: Steve and Tannis (Golden, British Columbia), Ken and Kathy (Sandpoint, ID), Jeffrey and Sam (Bozeman, MT), Linda (Boise); grandchildren: Cameron Conger and Holly (Ruckersville, VA), Richelle Whitehead (Pocatello), Coby and Audrey (Bozeman): great-grandchildren Caroline (Ruckersville, VA), Simon (Pocatello); extended family Robert Plant (Fruita, CO), Ruth Plant (Denver, CO).
