Jerry Allen Mcworter

JERRY ALLEN McWORTER
Born August 20, 1932, in Glendale, California,
Passed away May 1, 2021 in Indo, California at the age of 88.

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MEMORIAL SERVICE

Saturday, May 8th @ 11:00am PDT

In person: Our Savior's Palm Springs, 1020 East Ramon Rd, Palm Springs, CA 92264
Livestream YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2nkVb3_MZFhpLtv_kwaY3A/videos
Livestream Website link: https://www.oursaviors.org/

All public health precautions will be followed, including social distancing and wearing masks.
If you do not feel comfortable attending, please stay home and connect online at one of the links above.
Pat and the family understand the need to put safety first.


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OBITUARY


Born to Shelby and Edna McWorter in the midst of the Great Depression, Jerry joined his six older siblings, later to be followed by two more. While the large family was poor and struggled to get by, Jerry recalled his boyhood with fond memories of the family dinner table, where all would gather and socialize about the events of the day, usually with at least one friend or neighbor joining at the McWorter home on El Verano Street in Eagle Rock.


While a teen, Jerry suffered a severe burn on his leg when working at a nearby Christmas tree lot during the holiday season, causing him to miss a year of school while going through the long and painful recovery process.


Throughout his childhood, he had helped his father, a contractor, by doing odd jobs on various sites. When he left high school, he began working for his father regularly, and during that time also performed stints working for Western Electric, as well as for a chicken processing plant.


At the age of 19, Jerry enlisted to serve, and he joined the U.S. Navy on April 12, 1952. Following a 6-week boot camp in San Diego and a short time stationed in San Francisco, he was deployed to Guam, where he served for 22 months, working in the paint store of the ship repair facility, and later running a crew sandblasted and chipped the hulls of ships.


He met Pat Anderson in October 1954 while on a weekend leave. A blind date to the Santa Monica Pier, doubling with friends Dennis & Lila, ended with a good night kiss. He was honorably discharged from the Navy on April 11, 1956. A month later, while parked in front of Pat's parents' home, he proposed marriage to her. Jerry married Pat on March 2, 1957 at the Chapel of Roses in Pasadena. A month before the wedding, Jerry rented a nice duplex in Glendale so they could begin moving in some of the furniture they were purchasing.


After leaving the Navy, he was working regularly as a brick and block layer for various employers. He landed a full-time job with J.H. Hedrick & Co. around 1961. He was promoted to Superintendent in 1970, and he remained with the company for 16 years.


Jerry and Pat purchased their first home, a 2 bedroom in La Crescenta, in 1958. Jerry became a father twice over, first with the birth of their son Jeffrey on February 8, 1959, and then with the birth of their son Wayne on July 10, 1962. The family moved to a new home in La Crescenta in 1967, where they lived for the next 4 years. In 1971, the couple stretched themselves to their financial limits when purchasing their "dream home" in the lovely Verdugo Woodlands area of northern Glendale, paying a whopping $38,500!


In the mid 1980s, when Hedrick Co. was subcontracted to work on some projects by another firm, and in a short period of time, Jerry made quite an impression. He was courted to take a new job overseeing multiple projects, but he repeatedly declined out of his loyalty to Hedrick. Finally, when asked "what would it take to get you?," Jerry threw out a ridiculous set of terms that he knew were impossible -- a six figure salary, a company car, 4 weeks of vacation, etc. -- and to his shock, all his demands were met. He went to work in his new role in 1986, and stayed until he moved to the Coachella Valley full time to commence the next chapter of his career.


Jerry had always been self-conscious about his poor reading ability, and he went to great lengths to develop systems and processes in his life that would allow him to hide what he considered a deficit. In 1982, he demonstrated great courage by enrolling in a Remedial Reading class at Glendale Community College at the age of 50! He took his studies seriously and would practice his reading extensively until he was able to reach a level of proficiency.


They moved into a newly constructed home in the PGA West development in La Quinta in 1989, and Jerry had a ball choosing options and finishes, along with working with an interior designer to complete the space.


In 1990, Jerry and Pat founded their own small business, Stonecrafters, selling cast stone products and related decorative accessories, along with an installation service for large-scale jobs like fireplaces, flooring and architectural elements. Stonecrafters' showroom in the Atrium Design Center in Rancho Mirage received accolades and awards, and Jerry put his passion and energy into what was really the realization of a long-held dream.


In 1991, the couple began building their own Amway business, and over the next 10 years, they were heavily involved in that pursuit. In April 1995, Jerry and Pat were in Kansas City attending an Amway conference, and during the final morning presentation, a motivational speaker shared his personal faith in Jesus Christ. The session ended with an altar call for those who wanted to commit their lives to Christ. Both Jerry and Pat felt called to do so, and the made their way from the balcony of the auditorium to the lip of the stage.


Soon after their return home, the couple was invited by a friend to attend a service at Our Savior's Palm Springs, and they began attending regularly, formally joining as members the following year. God was watching out for Jerry, blessing him with a large and loving church family just in time before leading him into a period of significant prior of trials.


Following the economic recession of the early 90s, people were tightening their belts, and after much initial success, Stonecrafters experienced a slowdown in demand from the general market, and the newness and excitement of the Atrium Design Center had cooled, and there was less traffic and visibility from designers who might be interested in their goods and services. In 1997, Jerry and Pat decided to put their home up for sale, but the real estate market was lagging, and there was little interest from perspective buyers.


In December of 1997, Jerry suffered a major brain injury after he fell and hit his head on the cold hard granite floors of their home. He was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent a battery of tests. He had experienced a bleed in his brain, a concussion, and remained in intensive care for several days while doctors monitored his injury to be sure the bleeding wasn't spreading. He had no memory of anything about how he injured himself or why he was in the hospital. A little over a week later, on New Year's Eve, he was transferred from the hospital to a physical rehabilitation facility where he remained in treatment for the next 10 days before moving back home.


There was the old Jerry the generally soft-spoken, genial, strong willed, driven, and uncompromisingly hard worker and now there was the new Jerry a more relaxed, slow-paced, sentimental and emotional human. For those who knew both, it was quite an adjustment to get to know the new man.


Wouldn't you know it, this would be when the real estate market began rebounding, and Pat found herself trying to take care of those needs at the same time as she was navigating Jerry's homecoming and new needs, as well as attempting to keep the business afloat without involvement from the guy who dreamed it into being. They sold their home at PGA West in February 1998.


The Our Savior's church family was of tremendous support both practical and emotional throughout this ordeal. Around the same time, still in a foggy mental state, Jerry was involved in the founding of OSPS Men's Group, which still meets for breakfast each Wednesday morning to this day.


In November 1998, Jerry was able to return to his work at Stonecrafters, and while the entire team worked valiantly to make the business a success, they finally closed it down in 2003, at which time Jerry and Pat filed for bankruptcy.


Jerry and Pat entered into a several-year period where they lived in a succession of places, primarily rental property, working to repair their credit in hopes of once again regaining a stable financial footing. Jerry gradually began to see a new picture of what success looked like as he deepened his relationship with Jesus and grew stronger in faith each day. Where he had once placed his hope and security in the financial success that a business could provide, he now began to understand that his true hope and security lie in a relationship with his Lord and Savior. And the more he understood, the more passionate he became about spending time in relationship with his savior, and he spent daily time in prayer, and the reading and study of the Bible. In December of 2006, Jerry and Pat were able to purchase a modest home in the Sun City Shadow Hills community of Indio.


In August of 2007, Jerry's eldest son, Jeff, suffered a massive heart attack and suffered severe brain damage due to a prolonged lack of oxygen to his brain. While he didn't lose his memory, he was unable to recover any physical mobility or capacity to care for himself. His ability to communicate was also severely impaired. Understandably, this incident brought Jerry a deep level of grief, but it also drove him closer to God, especially as his prayer life escalated. He knew that his son could be cured if God willed it so, and he never ceased praying for that healing until 10 years later, when the Lord took Jeff from this world in late 2017.


One of the great joys of his life was his ever-growing family which included 5 grandchildren, their spouses, and 6 great-grandchildren and he relished the times when his extended family would come for a visit. During Jerry's last few years, his interest in activities outside the home decreased measurably. The one passion that moved him from his house was the opportunity to spend time with his extended church family, both at Sunday morning services and at Wednesday morning meetings with his men's group. Jerry loved all sports, and could glue himself to games for hours upon hours. He was especially fond of pro football and pro baseball. (Go Chargers! Go Dodgers!). His tendency to be a homebody in his later years meant fewer visits to restaurants or to visit friends. Ironically, the pandemic lockdown brought everyone's behavior in closer alignment with Jerry's!


On April 9 of this year, his doctor shared an alarming decline in Jerry's kidney function. Concurrently, it was determined that Jerry's previously diagnosed congestive heart disease was now diagnosed as congestive heart failure. Hospice care was the only sensible alternative given his age and condition, and he began receiving care at home. When Jerry's care needs exceeded home care, he was transferred to in-patient care in Ranch Mirage so medical personnel could ease his agitation and allow him to be peaceful. On Friday afternoon, April 30, Jerry was returned home, where Pat, her son Wayne, and his daughter Lauren cared for him. Late the following morning, on Saturday, May 1, he passed away peacefully surrounded by the familiar sights and sounds of his own home.


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Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Cathedral City, California.