Otto Francis Gerry
![](https://ghostarmy.org/images/roster/Gerry-HS-photo-1941-2024080950202.png)
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
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.
![](https://ghostarmy.org/images/roster/roster-554-gyu4az8yqk.jpg)
Photo courtesy Louisville KY Courier-Journal, April 22, 1979
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.
Sources:
1930 census
1940 census
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4998959:2442?ssrc=pt&tid=83233516&pid=300179907620
1941 high school yearbook (includes photo)
1942 draft card
1949 marriage record
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/153156:61406?ssrc=pt&tid=83233516&pid=300179907620
1950 census
1953 Canadian patent record
1954 article about his golf playing in the Brockport Republic-Democrat (NY)
https://newspaperarchive.com/brockport-republic-and-brockport-democrat-aug-19-1954-p-5/
1955 article in the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester NY) about his college graduation
https://www.newspapers.com/image/135606621/?match=1&terms=otto%20gerry
1963 article in the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester NY) about his appointment to the planning council
https://www.newspapers.com/image/137042935/?match=1&terms=otto%20gerry
1975 article in the Courier-Journal (Louisville KY) about his community theatre role (includes photo)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/110863090/?match=1&terms=otto%20gerry
1979 article in the Courier-Journal (Louisville KY) about his community theatre role (includes photo)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/109426718/?match=1&terms=otto%20gerry
1980-1983 washer and dryer patents
https://patents.justia.com/inventor/otto-f-gerry
1988 article in the Gainesville Sun (FL) about his community theatre role
1999 article in the Gainesville Sun (FL) about his 50th wedding anniversary includes photo)
2002 US Veterans' gravesites
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4329321:8750?ssrc=pt&tid=83233516&pid=300179907620
2002 VA death record
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1714764:2441?ssrc=pt&tid=83233516&pid=300179907620
2002 obituary in the Gainesville Sun (FL)
2002 Find a Grave record (includes obituary)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/105221905/otto-f-gerry
2021 wife's obituary
https://www.forestmeadowsfh.com/obituaries/Adelina-Gerry/#!/Obituary