Gerdes "Jerry" Parker Thom, 81, of Great Falls, passed away at his home from natural causes on January 5, 2015. Cremation has taken place and a Memorial service will be Saturday, January 17, 2015 at NOON in the Rose Room Chapel at Croxford Funeral home. Burial services will take place later this spring in Lavina, MT. Jerry was born August 16, 1933 in Ryegate, MT to Christian and Reneigh Thom. He was an only child, but was very close to his cousins. Jerry grew up and attended school in the Ryegate and Lavina area. He worked on the family farm and for the Golden Valley county spraying weeds. Jerry met the love of his life, Margaret Waltz in Roundup. They were married on July 3, 1965 and they moved to Billings, MT where he worked for the Sugar Beet Factory until retirement. In his retirement years, Jerry loved to camp and would spend May to September camping all across Montana with his wife. He loved taking his grandchildren camping and looked forward to the Thom Family Reunion every Labor Day weekend. During the summers while camping, he met people from all over the country and was the camp host for several years at Itch-ka-pee Park in Columbus, MT. Jerry was well known for his humor, his love of life, and "harassing the old ladies" while drinking coffee in the mornings. He enjoyed country western music and strawberry malts. In recent years, Jerry loved to just go for drives in the back country and enjoyed vanilla soft serve ice cream from Dairy Queen. He looked forward to weeknight dinners with grandchildren and great-grandchildren and would always sneak peppermint candies to the great-grandchildren before dinner. He held all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren very close to his heart and would brag about all of their accomplishments to anyone who would listen. He is survived by his wife, Margaret of Great Falls; sons, Terry G. Myers of Farmington, MO and Christian W. (Lisa) Thom of Worden, MT; 13 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Jerry was preceded in death by his daughter Pamela Evans. Jerry was a good ole' fella and will be dearly missed!

---

 Service Information