Dear members of the Glendale Bridge Community,
I am sorry to inform you of the passing of Gerry Belcher, our longtime
player and friend.
I will miss Gerry greatly. He inspired me with his warmth, humor and
intelligence. With his attention to detail, he was usually the one who
caught any director's or game errors. Confronting me with these, he was
stern by necessity, tempered with patience for my inevitable repeat
mistakes. He guided me but never shamed me, for which I am very
appreciative.
What follows are the moving memories of his daughter, Elizabeth:
After 83 years, my father passed away on Wednesday. If you knew him, you
knew he was a force - stubborn, loving, smart. The things he was and what
he meant to us can’t be boiled down into one post. But I have to highlight
some things that stand out in my mind right now:
- no way you could keep away him from any USC football game. He had season
tickets for decades. And once retired, he and my mom traveled to every.
single. game.
- dessert fanatic: dark chocolate. His mom’s cheesecake. Pie n’ Burger’s
boysenberry pie. Just some of his favorites.
- he loved Chuck Berry (maybe more 50s rock-n-roll, but I remember it
specifically as Chuck Berry). As a 4-ish-year-old kid, I remember him
standing me up on the two-level cat scratcher, putting on Chuck Berry and
“teaching” me to dance. We got to dance together to Chuck Berry’s Sweet
Little Sixteen at my wedding.
- as my mom would put it, he was born with “itchy feet”. He loved to travel
- and did so extensively. He shared this love with her, with me and with
Kris.
- avid bridge player (something I never understood and never plan to get
into, but he loved it!)
- voracious reader - constantly reading. The newspaper, magazines, and all
the books. He also had a memory like a steel trap. I’ve never understood
how he could hold on to so much information (especially historical facts -
my mind does not work in the same way when it comes to history at all!)
- Magic Mountain enthusiast. He loved roller coasters. We had season passes
as a kid and he would take my Girl Scout troop on our end-of-year trip. His
requirement was riding Colossus twice before moving on to any other rides.
- (not to get political, but I just always found this so delightful) he got
more liberal as he got older. Once he told off a conservative caller trying
to raise money for a particular cause and recapped it for me afterwards. I
was so proud!
- animal lover. He demonstrated this in many ways (including pointing out
every squirrel/bird/cat that went by) but my favorite way was the period
where he captured the feral cats in his neighborhood, found homes for them
if they could be domesticated and got the ones that couldn’t cleaned up and
fixed. We had A LOT of cats growing up!
- lived life by his own standards! There’s a lot to back this one up but
that’s a whole other series of stories!
I know I’ve left too much out, but suffice to say he was loved and will be
greatly missed.
I don't know any of our players that didn't like Gerry, or won't miss him, and
our group will not be the same. I'm hoping the Glendale club can reopen in
a few weeks, and that we will have a heartfelt memorial game.
In the weeks that come, I will keep you updated with my communications and
any "negotiations" with the Glendale ARC.
Best wishes,
Adam Barron
