Gerry Foley in memoriam, 1931-2017
Gerard “Gerry” Louis Foley, born May 6, 1931 in Seattle, WA, to Daniel and Marie Foley, passed into the Light at age 86 of natural causes on December 29, 2017. He is survived by his wife Genny and son Brian.
Gerry was a devoted husband, father, caregiver, car aficionado and lifelong learner. The day Gerry passed marked the 63rd anniversary of his marriage to his wife Genny. He cared for his wife daily since at least 2012 and was certain he would outlive her.
Gerry grew up on Queen Anne Hill with his brothers Richard and Jack, graduating from Seattle Prep, Class of 1949. He spent 1950 to 1952 working on the Olympic Peninsula and in Idaho for the US Forest Service, then joined the US Army from 1953 to 1955 where he was stationed for a time at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. He and Genny lived in San Francisco for nine years, where he worked for American Box Company and studied at University of San Francisco. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History, Class of 1964. They had their son Brian in San Francisco but decided the city was getting too big for raising a child and moved back to Seattle. Gerry spent 15 years working as a manager for Allied Corporation at the Bon Marche department store in various locations throughout the Pacific NW, including Bellingham and Tacoma.
In the 1980s, he started a business doing auto body work and manufacturing exotic sports car parts. His first car design was a kit car that used parts of the Ford Pinto and Mustang with a custom built fiberglass unibody to look like a Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer. From there he started making parts for various models of Lotus and other sports cars. He was recognized for his excellent craftsmanship and artistic skills, and went on to work on Formula One race cars for private collectors. Gerry avidly enjoyed traveling, drawing, oil painting, calligraphy, sculpting, gardening, naturopathy and researching things on the Internet. He reveled in learning new things and sharing his knowledge with others. Gerry was dearly loved and will be greatly missed.
The gallery below contains photos of Gerry and his family.
