Jerry Dale Driesens went to be with the Lord  on October 26, 2010 at the age of 62. He was born on December 19, 1947 to Gerald Nelson Driesens and Ruth Olthoff Driesens in Grand Rapids, MI.  He grew up there and later moved to  Phoenix, AZ, graduating from Phoenix Christian High School. He joined the United States Coast Guard from 1967-1971 and then went on to  graduate with a Masters in History from Northern Arizona University.  In 1972 he married Joan Langeland and they moved to Pagosa Springs in 1975 where he taught in the Jr. High School and coached Jr. High basketball and football, and High School baseball for 9 years.  He also sold real estate for over 30 years. He was actively involved in Centerpoint Church particularly  in establishing Pagosa Christian School and in giving to many Christian ministries.

He spent much of his time hiking, rafting, kayaking, skiing, hunting, and fishing in and around Pagosa and the Southwest His friends and family have many memories of time spent with him in the mountains and the canyons usually accompanied by his famous words, “Another awesome day in paradise.”

Jerry was defined by many things including his family, his love for the outdoors, his storytelling, his humor, his generosity, but especially  he was known as a Christian. He lived his life as a testimony to others of a man trying to walk in the footsteps of Christ. Jerry loved  his 3 girls immensely and it was his joy to see them become the individuals God created them to become.

He did not let his terminal cancer diagnosis stop him from enjoying life to the fullest and continued to do what he loved even while sick, including a 3 week raft trip on the Grand Canyon, working as a fishing guide in Alaska for 5 weeks, helping his daughters with house projects and countless other activities. Even in the final days of his life, he joked to his family “are we having fun yet?” a phrase he often used.

He died at peace after living with cancer for over 8 years in the log house he built with his loving wife at his side. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends, but he will continue to survive in the adventures and stories we all remember. His faith remained strong until the end and he did not waver in his trust in God’s timing.

Jerry is survived by his wife Joan, his daughter and son-in-law, Marrie and Michael Hibbard, his daughter and son-in-law Molly and Barry Wallace, his grandchildren Makenzie and Connor Wallace, and his daughter and  son-in-law, Heidi and Jon Busch. He is also survived by his father, Gerald Driesens, his sister and brother-in-law Janet and David Stravers, and his sister and brother-in-law, Mary and John Brush. He was preceded in death by his mother, Ruth Driesens

A  celebration  of Jerry’s life will be held October 30th at 3 p.m. at Centerpoint Church in Pagosa Springs.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Mission India c/o Dave Stravers, PO Box 141312, Grand Rapids, MI 49502 or Marcio Garcia with EMAF Missions in  Brazil c/o Centerpoint Church. 2750 Cornerstone Drive, Pagosa Springs, CO   81147.

Jerry Dale Driesens went to be with the Lord today, October 26, 2010. He died at peace after a long fight with cancer in the log house he built with his wife at his side. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends, but he will continue to survive in the adventures and stories we all remember. His faith remained strong until the end and he did not waver in his trust in God’s timing. 

Your love and prayers have been an amazing support to Jerry and our family over the years.  All of your friendships are a testimony to Jerry’s wonderful life.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 30th at 3pm at Centerpoint Church in Pagosa Springs.  Centerpoint Church is at 2750 Cornerstone Drive.

 

The Holiday Inn/Hillside Inn (970 731 5101) has a group rate for out of town family and friends for $55.00/night.  Tell them it is for the Driesens Memorial when you call to reserve.

Sorry I haven’t written much in a quite a while, it’s so rare that I even feel like I have enough energy to do that, so have gotten Joanie to do most of my updating.   I am having a better day than most, even though just about the same level of energy.  I did manage to shave myself and take a shower myself with comfort and success before Mike Coppenger made it over here by10:00 to “babysit” me while Joanie went to our church and Bobbi Coppenger went to their church.  Then they met back here for lunch where we enjoyed a lakeside lunch on the deck while the fall colors turned all around us on this perfect Indian Summer Day.

We have such wonderful, faithful friends.  Usually Paul Henry does this for us on Sunday mornings and Thursdays while Joanie is at Mom’s in Touch or out getting groceries, but the Henry’s went to the Albuquerque this weekend.  These friends along with George and Linda Muirhead and Bill and Barbara Fair have kept us “covered” for all these thing for all these months when we didn’t have relatives here helping us.

Anyway, while I may not feel like writing often myself, please know that these things are going on, for which we are very thankful indeed.  Thank you for your continued prayers.  I continue to find myself lying down most hours of most days with no energy for anything else it seems and no appetite, I get along well with my hospice workers very well.  Please continue your prayers for Joanie as she continues in her effort of love without complaint.   If it would be according to Gods’s will, I am willing and ready for Him to take me home soon, nevertheless, His Will, not Mine!  Love, Jerry

Just wanted all of you to know that Jerry is unable to update his blog for a while so I am doing it for him.   About 10 days ago he became quite confused and is spending a major amount of the day sleeping.   He’s really not hungry but is still drinking some liquids.

We continue to have lots of visitors and about 40 people from church came by yesterday and sang several songs for him since we are unable to go to church.   So nice of them to bring church here!

Marrie is here for a few days so that has been a big help.

Spirits are good and we continue to feel held in the palm of His hand.

Love,

Joan

Molly vowed that she would never try traveling again by car from Prescott   to Pagosa with both little kids and grandpa in the car.  The grandchildren are not great travelers with only one parent in the car, but a second parent makes all the difference.  Barry cannot make it, plus it would be very tight with two small children in their car seats with an adult sandwiched in between them.  But Molly has such a servant’s heart; when she realized that I am just not up to traveling that long of a distance to see my Dad and she realized her grandpa really wanted to see me once more before we have a memorial service, ( no date set on that yet!) she decided to give it a try.  Someone from my Dad’s church in Phoenix will bring my Dad to Barry and Molly’s on Thursday and he will take the other front seat on Friday while Molly drives, with Connor and Makenzie in their car seats in the back.  So please be praying for all of them on Friday; Molly for stamina and relaxed nerves, the kids to sleep a bunch while they travel and otherwise be good little travelers and for my Dad that he is a good traveler too!

I had a visit from my oncology doctor today who felt that I had an idyllic, tranquil, low stress location, surrounded by beauty here on the lake with all the remaining flowers and how green everything has become again with our wonderful Arizona Monsoon this year, which continue to give some great rains with close-by spectacular thunder and lightning.  I really like this doctor, even though she only comes herself once every two months.

I’ve had a real hard time capturing the cosmos in bloom with our camera- at least where any justice is done to them.  The California Poppies are still blooming but only at about 10% of their former glory of a few weeks ago.  The delphiniums and columbines are pretty much finished- but we do have a few morning glories and some convolulus- which are non climbing morning glories.

We have a group of us friends whom we refer to as the Gang of Ten- which are 5 couples:  Paul and Cathy Henry, Mike and Bobbi Coppenger, George and Linda Muirhead, Bill and Barbara Fair and Joanie and I.  We all manage to get together once a quarter for a potluck at one of our houses – ostensibly for the birthdays of the members of the Gang that have occurred since our previous get-together.  We had such a potluck this past Sunday out on our deck!

The garage cleanout-reorganization project is just about finished, except for the big garage sale.  Joanie really did it all and I just sat in a chair out in the garage where my oxygen tube reached and made decisions.  It’s a alot easier when I realize that most of the stuff I’m deciding about getting rid of are things I most likely will never use myself again!  We thought maybe we should use most of the Z-Rays still in packages as door prizes at the memorial service- but it would probably take up too much time.

I’ve been reading a book entitled “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn.  I recently finished on by David Jeremiah entitled, “Discovering Paradise”.  I have another on the table ready to read by Joni Eareckson Tada.  All very interesting, but the one by Randy Alcorn is pretty long and exhaustive and not real easy reading for me.

Well, it’s been a while since I last wrote, so I guess this one kind of ran on. Thanks for your continued prayers!  Love, Jerry

Connor is blue, but still smiling!  He broke a bone in his elbow,  and they put a blue cast on his arm, but it has not seemed to slow him down much.

He’s still trying to chase Makenzie.  They had been playing together a few days earlier and after they had fallen down, when Connor got up his elbow hurt and they needed a few xrays to find a little bone fracture.

We have continued to have nice rains most days and are enjoying our second round of super green.  We still have lots of visitors, but no overnight guests for a while.

Joanie has been cleaning and sorting out stuff in the garage.  All I have to is sit in a chair and designate whether a tool goes to someome in particular, go  a garage sale, we keep it, or throw it a way.  Pretty easy for me and she is non-plussed at how easy it is for me to throw away stuff.  ( even went through all my fishing gear- although what I’m keeping would outfit some small tackle shops!

We’ve picked our first vine ripened tomatoes from the garden, passing out as many snow peas and sugar snap peas as we can and enjoying the squash and bean blossoms along with the cosmos, which Joanie cuts nice bouquets for anyone who’ll take one.  Later, Jerry

All of the kids and their spouses enjoyed playing in the river and tubing as the water dropped daily, but perhaps none so much as Makenzie and Connor. 

We have continued to have guests during the day.  We’ve enjoyed Dave and Nancy Cutright and her wonderful banana cake with cream-cheese frosting, The Smith family with 4 of their kids and perhaps the best Key-lime pie I’ve ever had.  Erik Anderson, our former next door neighbor and a couple boys he is the gardian for, Manny and Jose.  The lake has warmed up to make fishing pretty challenging, so we were not able to get either of the boys a fish, but they did get some bites.

Our new pastor, Jon Duncan paid me 3 very nice visits and offered to let me to say something from the pulpit if and when I’d like.  I’ve enjoyed the visits from Don Strait who is the volunteer chaplain for Hospice of Mercy.

We’ve had several very nice rains this past month, but the monsoon started in earnest on July 22.

While on their trampoline earlier this week, Connor banged his elbow and needs to see a pediatric orthopedic surgeon later this week.  Please pray for him and his parents and grandparents!  Thank you!  Love, Jerry and Joanie

P.S.  You might enjoy reading Randy Alcorn’ s book entitled, “Heaven”.  The Bible is not nearly as silent on the subject of heaven as we generally assume.

Jon and Heidi, who were recently here for a week over the 4th of July, are hoping to buy a townhome or condo in this crazy market.  John has a good job in advertizing in Boston and Heidi is a social worker, and just finished a masters degree in May.  They still  need to find something they can afford in a neighborhood they can live with.  Please join us in praying for just that, won’t you?

It looks like our annual Arizona Monsoon has finally arrived with nice rains in the afternoons and evenings.  We had been eating out on the deck all three meals a day and enjoyed the breezes as they blew throughout  the living/dining area.  The humminbirds keep us alert.  Our California Poppies have been at their peak for the last month as well as the columbines and clematis, but now they are sharing the limelight with the cosmos.  We have sugar snap peas and snow peas galore and the green and yellow beans as well as the zucchini and tomatoes are coming on strong.  The rains have lessened the need for watering in most places and the air cools so much that we close many of our windows and doors.  Since June, though, we have nearly perfect weather.  We’ve had to keep our trash container in the garage until right before pickup time on Friday mornings as a bear has gotten into it 3 times already

My sister, Jan, and husband, Dave, have been in Phoenix this past week, trying to help my Dad.  It has not been easy,  lots of frustration, but I believe some progress is slowly being made.  My Dad really needs to get into a higher level of care but he either can’t or won’t see it, despite what everyone, including doctors and nurses are saying.  Please keep praying for that situation!

Thanks again for your continued prayers!  I’m hanging in there!  Love, Jerry

Michael, Marrie, Connor, Molly, Barry, Joanie, Makenzie and me.  Heidi and Jon had already gone back to Boston.   I am so thankful for my family, Lord!

They were all such a big help to us, also.  They did a bunch of mowing, trimming and weeding at our rent house, and we got a new renter right away, at least signed up.  There is some more work inside that Joanie is supervising.  I am down to not being able to do anything ( except supervise a little).

Barry’s brother, Trevor and his new bride of one month, Lisa, spent a couple nights with us with an overnight backpack trip to Crater Lake squeezed in the middle.  Trevor overheard me asking Joanie if she thought hospice would provide massage therapists.  Trevor and Lisa suprised me with free massage the next day and the masseuse came to our house.  Joanie had told me that I would have a visitor at 11:00 that morning and I just thought it was an alternate hospice nurse.

Paul Henry hauled my motorcycle up to Grand Junction to Michael and Marrie.  George Muirhead got Joanie’s motor scootor running; so our wonderful friends keep helping us in many ways.  What a blessing!

My sister Jan and her husband Dave, flew out to Phoenix from Michigan yesterday to try to help our dad, who continues to go downhill, get some of his medical and housing needs taken care of with some possible significant changes needed.  Please pray for her!   And thanks for your continued prayers for me ( and Joanie, too- wonder woman is now pretty much doing everthing, while I lay or sit around)  She never complains!  God, thank you for my awesome wife!      Love, Jerry

Marrie and Michael got  in some relaxing time while they were here after Michael and his dog climbed Pagosa Peak earlier in the day, while the others went tubing on the San Juan River in town.  M&M left to go back a while ago as Michel has to be at work at 7:00 AM tomorrow.  He is a dialysis nurse at Mercy Hospital in Grand Junction, while Marrie is a social worker there in the emergency room.   (Actually this is Michael’s parent’s porch swing.  They had a family reunion for Michael’s family in Ohio over the 4th of July. 9 out of 10 of Michael’s siblings made it.)