Sensational Seniors – March 2018

When my wife and I moved to Jacksonville six years ago, we met numerous fine Jacksonville citizens and in so doing several names were frequently mentioned; among them were Pete Dahl, Lee Lewis, John Braislin and Jerry Ferronato. Unfortunately, I missed out on the opportunity to meet Pete, Lee and John before their deaths, but I finally connected with Jerry Ferronato when I sat down to interview him for this month’s “Sensational Seniors” article. I was not disappointed.

Jerry’s life started on March 20, 1941 in Blye, California, but he was raised in Midland CA, which was a Kaiser Industry steel town, meaning that Kaiser owned the town, including all the stores and even the bar. Like most residents of Midland, Jerry’s father worked for Kaiser and was paid in script, which the family used to purchase their necessities at the company stores. Jerry’s early education came in Bloomington, CA and then high school in Colton, CA. After high school, Jerry enrolled at Pasadena City College but only stayed for three semesters, saying he really only “learned to drink beer in the mountains and play whisk.”

Putting college aside, Jerry and four friends joined the Navy with Jerry becoming a missile fire control technician. His 40-week electronics training focused on the emerging world of computers which was to be a fortuitous training for Jerry’s civilian life. He said that being a fire control technician on a ship was “a great job, because I did not walk the decks, had good hours, worked in an air-conditioned room and sailed through the Panama Canal on the USS Galveston in comfort.” While his ship received orders to sail to Cuba as the Cuban Missile Crisis surfaced, two ship boilers went down, and they returned to San Diego for repairs as the crisis came to a head and was eventually alleviated.

Secure in his comfortable fire control technician lodging, Jerry experienced Japan, Hawaii, Canada and Alaska before completing his tour of duty. In 1964, he was back in college as a more mature and focused young man and enrolled at San Bernardino Valley Junior College, seeking a degree in electronics. In addition to carrying a full load of classes and making the Dean’s List, Jerry, utilizing his Navy training, worked full time at night for General Telephone Company. With his two-year electronics degree, Jerry started working days for General Telephone, focusing on small telephone companies and, specifically, on telephone technology that supports mechanical equipment and long-line telephone services. Shortly after starting his new position with General Telephone he married, Sandee, who he had known in high school but never dated. On February 5, 2018, they celebrated their 52nd anniversary.

Jerry was to work for General Telephone until 1992 when he was offered a “golden handshake” retirement that he could not refuse. During the 25 years he worked for the company, he spent time in San Bernardino, Santa Monica, Phoenix, AZ, Banning, CA, and Long Beach. Interspersed with his work were frequent extended training sessions at a variety of places across the United States. While he held a number of positions with General Telephone, he was primarily a computer analyst for the company. Even when able to operate out of a home base, he still traveled around California helping put in on-line telephone systems. As he remembers, “I was gone most of the time and, if I was home more than three days a month, I was lucky. This was especially hard on my family as Sandee and I now had our daughter, Michele, but they were troopers. All of this travel did make it easy to take my early retirement at 52.” The last five years at General Telephone found Jerry working out of the main office in Santa Barbara. He remembers with amusement making a rare appearance at the office one day and having the new receptionist call security because she thought he was an intruder.

Sandee’s sister and brother-in-law who had retired to a ranch in the Williams, Oregon area, lured the Ferronatos to Southern Oregon. On a trip to Medford to attend their niece’s graduation from Southern Oregon University, their first foray into Jacksonville came with dinner at the Jacksonville Inn. This led to a walk-about around our historic village, a walk that took them past the Windermere Real Estate office where they were enticed by a photo and description of a home for sale on Grove Street. This led to a drive-by and an outside look at the home. Their brother-in-law sent them a video of the home once they returned to California and 28 days later they moved in. Jerry relates, “There was no logical reason to stay in California. Our property taxes here were only a third of what they were in California, and our auto insurance was half of what we were paying in California.” Jerry said they could not believe their good luck in making the move to Jacksonville. “When we went to set up our utilities and asked what sort of deposit we would need to make, we were told that no deposit was required. I was incredulous as no utility deposit was unheard of in California.” This early positive feeling about Jacksonville only intensified in the weeks ahead. “Jacksonville was simply wonderful. It is more like the village I grew up in, and in two weeks we knew more people in Jacksonville than we did in eighteen years in California.”

Jerry and Sandee wasted no time getting involved in their new hometown and immediately joined the Jacksonville Boosters Club and the Seniors Association and became active in both. They were honored as Boosters of the Year in 2002. Jerry, especially, enjoyed working on Boosters projects with his new friends, Pete Dahl, John Braislin and Lee Lewis. “We started refurbishing the benches in downtown Jacksonville and added new ones; we started the flag program for United States holidays and days of recognition which has become a Boosters tradition, and we started the All City Cleanup Day.”

His involvement with the Seniors Association led to serving on the Community Center Board, acting as president for five years. Under his presidency, the Community Center was successful in getting a 50-year lease on the Sampson building which is now the cornerstone of the new and expanded Community Center. Once the lease on the Sampson building was signed, Jerry and Pete Dahl set about creating a kitchen and remodeling the bathroom to make the facility more useable. Sandee was also a mainstay on the Community Center Board and, as Jerry notes, “Helping get the Community Center up and running was the best thing Sandee and I ever did.”

Other civic volunteer work included working fourteen years with Terry Gieg to put on the annual Victorian Christmas celebration and assisting with the Chinese New Year Parade. In addition to these volunteer activities, Jerry served for seven years on the Jacksonville Planning Commission, acting as Chairman during his last two years on the Commission. He was able to lead the Planning Commission through some tumultuous times, including Jacksonville opting out of the Jackson County Regional Problem Solving consortium, which to him was, “Just one more layer of needless bureaucracy.” He was also the Planning Commission Chairman when the long zoning challenge for the Jacksonville Presbyterian Church was finally approved, relating, “I didn’t go to this church, but could see no reason why the building permit should not be approved. I had people mad at me and others congratulate me. In the long run, it was the right thing to do.”

Jerry volunteerism has slowed in recent years due to some serious health issues, but he still keeps his hand in Pacifica, a non-profit that provides environmental educational opportunities for children. He still enjoys working in his wood shop, but admits, “Even though I had a career in technology, we don’t have a computer in the house and we don’t want one.” Jerry Ferronato is one more Jacksonville citizen, who in retirement, has made a positive difference in our community!