JERRY D. STABLER

Jerry D. Stabler, age 84 of Brodhead, died Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, at Pleasant View Nursing Home. He was born on March 14, 1936, in Janesville, Wisconsin, the son of Marvin and Pauliene (Hyatt) Stabler and grandson of Oscar and Queen (Dunwiddie) Stabler. He was raised on his grandfather’s farm in Spring Grove Township, Green County, Wisconsin. He went to Poplar Grove, a one-room school for the first eight grades; later attending Brodhead High School and graduating in 1954.

He entered the Navy on Dec. 8, 1954, serving his first overseas duty aboard the heavy cruiser USS Baltimore CA 68 at the end of the Korean War. Later, he served two more overseas tours, cruises aboard the USS Toledo CA 133 to the Far East and Australia. Port-of-calls were to Pearl Harbor; Yokosuka, Sasebo, Kobe Shimizu, Yokohama, Nagoya, Shimizu and Nagasaki, Japan; Ding-a-ling Bay and Manila in the Philippine Islands; Buchner Bay, Okinawa; Chinhae, Korea; Keelung, Taiwan; Hong Kong; and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. He stood at ground zero in 1955 where the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Japan on Aug. 9, 1945.

He returned from the Navy to Brodhead in 1958. He started working at Arnold Motors in Beloit as an auto mechanic. He practiced his trade for many years in Beloit, Janesville and Madison. He later became service manager at Ayres Chevrolet in Brodhead, where he retired in 2001.

Jerry married Donna J. Anderson on Dec. 2, 1960. They had four children, Debbie Lynn, Rick D., Cheryl Jean and Kimberly, who was stillborn. Jerry later married Donna R. Libby Pelkey Johnson on Oct. 20, 1978; and added a stepson, Kris Pelkey, to the family.

He loved to hunt, fish, canoe, hunt for arrowheads, rebuild windmills and do woodworking. Jerry was also very interested in genealogy, and had written several books on his family’s history. Jerry liked to sit around the campfire at his cabin, on the Sugar River, with his family and friends, have a few beers and tell stories.

He is survived by his wife, Donna, of Brodhead; daughters, Debbie Farmer of Belvidere, Illinois, and Cheryl (Bret Deremo) Buss of Orfordville; stepson, Kris Pelkey of Brodhead; grandchildren, Ashley (Nick) Slezak, Jade (Mitch) Vowels, Logan (Megan) Buss, Brandi (Mitch) Matejka, Conner Gitchel and Zoey Pelkey; eight great grandchildren; a sister, Mary Hafen of Brodhead; plus many nephews, nieces, other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents; son, Rick; a daughter, Kimberly who was stillborn; a grandson, Cody Buss; and a sister, Betty Everson.

A visitation and services were held Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, at Everson Funeral Home, with the Rev. Dan Herman officiating. Burial was in Greenwood cemetery, Brodhead.