Otto Francis Gerry

CPL in 3132nd Signal Service Co : 2nd Platoon

Born 1923 in NY, Died 2002

Other residence(s): Brooklyn, NY; Holley, NY; Brockport, NY; Clarkson, NY; Middletown, CT; Louisville, KY; Gainesville, FL

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

College education after the war: Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute; Rochester Institute of Technology

Notes: Rank added per gravestone

Source: W. Anderson Notes; Post War Sonic List from Bill Anderson; 3132 Pine Camp Photo Names; photo courtesy Ancestry® and Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School

Otto Gerry was born on September 7, 1923 in Brooklyn, NY, the older of two children. His father was a bookkeeper with a wholesale woolen company. At some point the family moved to the Richmond Hill neighborhood in Queens.

He graduated from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn in 1941. While there he was a young man of many interests—participating in the biology club, the camera club, the chemistry club, and the Aquinas Society. His yearbook reports that "Otto is a comedian in the true sense of the word . . . an earnest student of chemistry . . . his winning smile will ensure his success."

After graduation he went to work at Gibbs & Cox in New York, a naval architecture and marine engineering firm. He registered for the draft a year later, on June 30, 1942, and enlisted on February 2, 1943. He was eventually assigned to the 3132 Signal Service Company, and went to Europe with the unit.

Otto was discharged from the Army on October 27, 1945 with the rank of CPL. He used his GI Bill benefits to earn a college degree at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now the engineering school of NYU). He married Adelina Cavagnaro, also from Richmond Hill, on October 1, 1949 and they settled in Holley, NY, a village in the Rochester, NY metro area. It's likely he had graduated in 1949, and was starting his first engineering job—as an electrical engineer at General Electric (probably at their nearby Brockport plant which had opened as the Housewares Division that year). Otto and Adelina soon became the parents of two children: Philip and Jacqueline, and Otto was active in his Catholic parish in Brockport.

Otto would stay with General Electric throughout his entire career. In the 1950s he earned several patents for small appliances, including a household mixer and its beater ejector, and played on the GE golf team. He also earned a second degree in industrial management from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1955.

The family lived in Brockport and later in Clarkson, NY. The 1960s brought more small appliance patents including those for a cooking vessel heating element, an electric can opener, and an electric knife. His official job designation was design engineer. He also served on the Monroe County Planning Council from 1963-66.

Photo courtesy Louisville KY Courier-Journal, April 22, 1979

At some point the Gerrys moved to Middletown, CT and later to Louisville, KY. In Kentucky, both of them became active in local community theatre, fulfilling both Otto's high school yearbook's promise of his comedic skills and Adelina's New York City theatre studies. Otto appeared in many productions including The Mousetrap, My Three Angels, Everybody Loves Opal, Ten Little Indians (along with his wife), and Noel Coward's Present Laughter.

In 1980, Otto and Adelina moved to Gainesville, FL where he finished out his career with GE, retiring in 1986. During those six years, he earned several more washer and dryer patents. He continued his community theatre involvement in Gainesville, served as a Eucharistic minister at Holy Faith Catholic Church, and volunteered for other local organizations which reflected his Catholic principles.

He died on December 7, 2002 and is buried at Forest Meadows Memorial Park East in Gainesville, FL.