- Date Of Birth: January 13, 1920
- Date Of Death: July 10, 2012
- State: Idaho
Jerry E. Stanke died at the family home in Nampa on the morning of July 10, 2012. He was born in Grandview, Idaho on January 13, 1920, the son of homesteaders from Wisconsin.
When he started school at age four, he rode his horse to the little schoolhouse where the children helped with the daily tasks. He graduated from high school at age fifteen and then spent some time on the family farm. He left Grandview to attend business college, and after receiving his diploma he worked for a short time at the R&V Oil Company, where he operated the new Burroughs bookkeeping machine. He left when he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II.
When he went overseas, prior to D-Day, he was stationed in Northern Ireland, where he met and later married his wife Muriel, a British schoolteacher.
Jerry had many interests. He loved music, and in his younger days he played trumpet in a dance band led by the late Merrill Tonning of Boise. He loved music all his life. He was also a keen chess player, and entered and won many tournaments in Idaho and nearby states. He was also a historian.
Above all, Jerry loved his family and was a dedicated husband and father. “He was loved with such love, and with such sorrow mourned”.
Jerry is survived by his wife of almost sixty-seven years at the family home, and by his four children; Pat (Les) Boyd of Pomeroy, Washington; Joan (Jay) Minier of Palm Harbor, Florida; Barbara (Al) Whittington of Moultrie, Georgia, and Bill (Julie) Stanke of Moscow, Idaho, and by numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
