Gerry Sherman (Gerrit Schuurman) died on Oct. 22, 2003, after a long full life.

There will be a wake/remembering at 3 p.m. Nov. 9 at Langley United Methodist Church. His many friends are invited to come and remember this hard-working, fun-loving man.

Mr. Sherman was born June 8, 1916, in Loppersum, Groningen, Netherlands, the fifth of seven children of Hendrik Schuurman and Jantje Kuiper Schuurman. As a boy, he worked on the family farm, and was forced to end his formal education after the eighth grade.

As soon as he was old enough, he became a sailor. In World War II he participated in the resistance while sailing. During a stint ashore in Stockholm, Sweden, he met an attractive refugee from Austria, Edith Neumann. They were married in Stockholm on July 22, 1944, and their first child, Jan Hendrik, was born there.

After the war, Gerrit brought his family back to the Netherlands, where Marianne and Franz Wilhelm were born. In 1952 the family immigrated to the United States, and settled in Los Angeles, where “Gerrit” became “Gerry.” He began work in a door factory, and joined the Lumber and Sawmill Workers’ Union. He continued to make doors until he retired in 1981, when he and Edith moved to Whidbey Island to be near daughter Marianne. He remained a union member for life.

In Los Angeles Gerry built and maintained beautiful, highly productive gardens. On Whidbey he did the same, and became a mainstay of Tilth and its Farmers’ Market. Gerry was a strong member and sometime president of the Los Angeles chapter of The Nature Friends, an international organization dedicated to bringing people and nature together. He was also cubmaster of son Willy’s Cub Scout troop, in which position he taught camping, woodscraft and knot-tying.

He was good-natured and fun-loving, making it a point to charm and tease people out of bad moods. He was big and very very strong. It pleased him to use his strength to help people. In the 1990s his eyes began to fail, and he had to give up his beloved gardens. Then his heart failed. A lifelong workaholic, it was very difficult for him to accept enforced idleness. His last years were improved immeasurably by the Time Together program at Bayview Senior Center. He lived for Tuesdays and Fridays, when he could visit all his friends there.

He is survived by Edith, his wife of 59 years; three children; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

The family suggests memorials to South Whidbey Tilth (P.O. Box 525, Langley, WA 98260), The Nature Friends (423 Yucca Trail, Sierra Madre, CA 91024), or Time Together (c/o South Whidbey Senior Center, 14594 Highway 525, Langley).