He joined the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served aboard the minesweeper, USS Buoyant, as Yeoman 2nd Class. Gerald’s naval service aboard the USS Buoyant took him from the Aleutian Islands to the South Pacific.

He was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1946 and returned to Salina, where he graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University in 1949. There, Gerald met and married Arline L. Sandberg of Burdick on Dec. 30, 1950. They had four children and were longtime members of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Salina.

Gerald worked 22 years for the U.S. Postal Service in payroll and accounting, after which he joined the Kansas State Employment Division, where he worked as a determinations writer for 12 years until retirement. Gerald resided in Salina until 2005, when declining health forced his move to Iowa to be near his daughter. His favorite activities included playing the trumpet, singing in the Immanuel Lutheran Church choir, Salina, Voices of Experience, Iowa City, Iowa, and ballroom dancing.

Gerald was preceded in death by his wife, Arline.

He is survived by four children, Audrey Block and her partner Carol Farr, Portland, OR, Gordon and his wife Tia, Yamhill, OR, Stephanie Dotzel and her husband Robert, Iowa City, IA, and Valerie Block and her partner Rhonda Vanover, Manassas, VA; four grandchildren, Annie Block Hood, Berkeley, CA, Ingrid Block, Grass Valley, CA, Krista Dotzel, Iowa City, IA, and Rebekah Dotzel, Iowa City, IA; and one great-grandson, Benjamin, Grass Valley, CA.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008, where family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. at Ryan Mortuary, 137 N. Eighth St., Salina KS 67401.

The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 255 S. Seventh, Salina, KS 67401, followed by burial in Roselawn Memorial Park.

Memorials may be made to the church or Iowa City Hospice, in care of the mortuary.