Former member Gerry (Gerald) Douglas passed away Sept. 4, with his son, Robert, at his side. Before moving to long-term care options, Gerry lived in the Sacramento house where he had grown up, on 48th near Folsom Blvd. During and after his career as a social worker, he had a passion for reading fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and loved music as well.

His son Robert has offered these memories of Gerry.  When an obituary is posted online we’ll post a link to it in our Weekly Message.

My dad was born in 1934 to Esther and Claude Douglas in East Sacramento. During his youth he would hike the outskirts of Sacramento and fish the American River. In the summer he would frequently spend time at his cousin’s ranch in Placerville where he would pick apples and pears; hike, hunt, and explore mother lode country. He graduated from Sacramento High School then attended Sacramento City College as art major. After earning his AA degree, he transferred to Sacramento State University and earned a BA degree in Philosophy.  He attended graduate school as a philosophy major at UC Berkeley and the University of Washington, but loss interest because of the “overly technical” nature of the topics covered.

In 1959, he enlisted in the United States Army and spent two years working in the 108th Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Group in New York City. Afterwards he returned to Sacramento and worked for Sacramento County Department of Welfare as a social worker and supervisor. He would marry in 1963 and have one child in 1968 (me). He divorced in 1979. While he worked for the County of Sacramento he attended graduate school at CSUS earning a Master’s Degree in Social Work in 1971 and later became credentialed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). He spent the remainder of his career—20 + years— working at the UC Davis Medical Center in Psychiatric Emergency Services as a LCSW.

In 1993 he was offered “golden handshake” by UC Davis and retired, which gave him an opportunity to spend time with friends, family, and enjoying his hobbies—reading, walking, hiking, backpacking, visiting art galleries, practicing Buddhist meditation, attending plays and musicals, and of course, being involved with the Unitarian Universalist Society.

He particularly loved to visit me when I was in college and would follow me around the state when I was  a seasonal biologist. The nice thing was that he could spend time in areas where I lived (I usually had a bed available for him) for extended periods of time while I was either at school or work, then we would spend time together in the evening or when I had time off. In the meantime, he would explore the area by hiking the local trails or frequenting the bookstores or café. When I settled down in Fort Bragg, he was a frequent visitor to our home. He was very proud when he became a grandfather twice,  with the birth of Amethyst (2002) and Ruby (2010).

As you know, my dad had very eclectic tastes in just about anything—art, literature, science, food, philosophy, history, music, etc. His mother didn’t have anything beyond an 8th grade education but one habit she instilled in my father was a love of knowledge through reading. His mother was always visiting the library and would take my dad with her. These forays to the library as a child would form a lasting habit that would turn my father into bibliophile. My dad’s father died of a heart attack when he was just 2 years-old. His mother’s brother would be his surrogate father who also had a significant influence on him. My great uncle was a sign painter and a self-taught artist. Although my great-uncle never went on to art school to hone his natural talent, I know his line of work and hobbies were a direct influence on my dad’s pursuit and love of art. And although my father never became an artist like maybe he wanted to be, he definitely instilled in me an appreciation for art and culture and how they intertwine with science and history.

My father loved ideas, knowledge, and exploration. Much of what he would read would later be put into practice somehow. For example, my dad would investigate the journals of California pioneers regarding mining camps and townships no longer in existence. We, along with his friend Phil, would plan day trips or long camping trips in areas in search of these places and the hope of find some relicts of our historical past. There is just so much to remember about my dad that it is difficult to encapsulate his life in just a few sentences. And it was just 39 years ago, my dad and I went on two week backpack out of Bridgeport where I supplemented our diet with fish for several days. The most memorable aspect of the backpack was being chased of Burro Pass, as we hiked out of Matterhorn Canyon into Piute Canyon, by lightning. At one point, the lightning was zapping trees all around us, and in the middle of the hail storm as we are waiting for another strike, my dad stands up to urinate. I tell him to get down to avoid getting struck and he says to me that if he were to get struck by lightning and die at that moment, that he had already lived a good life. If that is a standard of success, I don’t know what is–he went on to enjoy many more trips, hikes, backpacks, and harrowing experiences with lightning and me. All of these experiences I had with my dad are why I became a biologist. I really think my dad would have been a professional biologist, but he came to that realization too late in his career. He loved natural history and evolutionary biology, and as you can imagine, we very well read on the subject.

My dad was always there for me in goods times and bad. We could have our blowouts, but he was always a forgiving and generous person. He demonstrated by example how we take care of the elders in our family, particularly his mother, aunt and uncle. I tried my best to see to it that he received the best care as his health declined over the years and that he participated in those activities he loved until he could no longer do them.

There is so much of him around us in our home, but nothing compares to the memories we made with him in the here and now.

Best,

Robert, Heather, Amethyst, and Ruby.