Curtis Franklin Gerald Obituary (1915 - 2010)

Curtis Franklin Gerald went to a higher realm September 11. He was born May 22, 1915 in Omaha, Nebraska to Emma Florence Park Gerald and Herbert Franklin Gerald. He received his B.S. degree from Iowa State University and his Master's at the University of Cincinnati, later obtaining a doctorate in Chemical Engineering at M.I.T. in Cambridge, Mass. He married Janet Brann Beal in 1940. She died in 1968. In 1964 he became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In 1970 he married Elsie Hunter Thomson in the Salt Lake Temple and they have had a rewarding life together. He was the love of Elsie's life and she will miss him very much. After working as a research engineer in Chicago and a research manager in El Paso, Texas he turned to teaching. First, he was at the University of Washington and then a professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, Ca. He earned acclaim by teaching mathematical principles so that his students could solve difficult problems with understanding. He is the author of several text books dealing with computers including Applied Numerical Analysis which is in its seventh edition. He is survived by his wife, Elsie, and by his children: Robert (Karin), Nancie (Joseph), Peter (Sharon), Kenneth (Janette), and Susan (Alan) and their children and grandchildren; and by Elsie's children: Connie (Bill), Hunter (Cathy), Craig (Karen), and Alec (Linda), her eleven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren who have been such a great joy to both Curtis and Elsie. By his request a private ceremony with family only has been held at the burial site.