Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Longtime Henderson minister Gerard dies at 82

When the Rev. George Gerard faced mandatory retirement as rector of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Henderson in 1993 after two stints totaling 20 years, he wasn't ready to stop preaching.

Gerard, then 72, founded the Charismatic Episcopal Church of St. Paul in Henderson and later served as Henderson Police chaplain, not only ministering to cops who came to him seeking advice on spiritual matters but also holding two services each Sunday for inmates in the Henderson city jail.

Gerard, whose ministry also reached out to families on summer retreat and provided spiritual healing for the ill during a career that spanned five decades, died May 25 at his Henderson home following a lengthy illness. He was 82.

A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Green Valley Christian Center followed by a reception at the Henderson Convention Center.

"Before my husband met me, he never went to church," said Gerard's wife, Judy Gerard. "After two of our children were born, he converted."

While attending church in 1955, Gerard, a pharmacist, read a piece of scripture from St. Matthew that told of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Soon after, Gerard enrolled in the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., and became an ordained minister, Judy Gerard said.

He served as a minister at St. Timothy's from 1968 to 1978 and as rector from 1983 to 1993.

Born Feb. 22, 1921, in the Bronx, New York, Gerard was the son of writer Bernard Gerard and opera singer Nadia Gerard. George attended Long Island University and served in the Army during World War II.

He returned to New York after the war and studied at the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and became a licensed pharmacist. Gerard moved to Reno in the early 1950s. After graduating from divinity school, he served at three Northern Nevada Episcopal churches: Trinity in Reno, St. Francis in Lovelock and St. Mary's in Winnemucca.

In 1961, the church sent Gerard to Costa Rica and later to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he established the San Francisco de Assisi Church and served as athletic director, faculty member and chaplain for the Colegio San Justo Episcopal boys boarding school.

In 1968, Gerard was assigned to St. Timothy's. Ten years later, he was sent to a church in Inverness, Calif., before returning to St. Timothy's in 1983. During his local tenure, St. Timothy's burned twice and was rebuilt. Today it stands at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Panama Street.

Also, for 26 years, the Gerards ran the Gerard Family Camp, offering summer worship retreats for 80 to 100 families a year, first at Lake Tahoe and later at Oakhurst, Calif.

Gerard served as minister at his Charismatic Episcopal Church of St. Paul from 1993 to 1996.

As Henderson Police chaplain in the late 1990s, Gerard often went on patrol with officers, Judy Gerard said, noting that one of her husband's duties was to inform families of murder victims about the deaths.

In addition to his wife, Gerard is survived by a daughter, Glenna Gerard.

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