Jerry Gammons

July 14, 1941 - April 14, 2018

Jerry Gammons, age 76, of The Villages, Florida, lost his battle with cancer on Saturday, April 14, 2018.

He was born in Mt. Pleasant, TN, and lived a great deal of his life in Midlothian, VA.   He is survived by his wife, Karen Reynolds Gammons, precious daughters, Lisa Pagel (husband Bud), and Donna Carroll (Tim).  He leaves behind five wonderful grandchildren, Jacob Pennington, Brett Pennington, West Pagel, Alex Carroll, and Lindsey Carroll.  His parents were Herbert and Alma Milligan Gammons.  He also leaves two sisters, June Moss and Carolyn Waldrop and brother, Ralph Gammons.  The other brothers from this big loving family who predeceased him are Herbert, Charles, Robert and Carl Gammons.

Jerry was always the family reunion organizer and was close to all his nieces and nephews.  His special helpmate with the reunions was always his dear niece, Debbie Weaver.  He had a huge heart that reached out to so many people.  He worked with Habitat for Humanity several times in New Orleans and he and Karen worked with the cleanup after the floods in Nashville.  He made mission trips to Honduras to build houses lost to mud slides.  He lived a rich full life and made enormous contributions.

Jerry graduated from Hay Long High School in Mt. Pleasant TN, where he played football.  He served in the Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne out of Ft. Bragg, NC.  Most of that service was spent in Germany.  He moved around managing Holiday Inns for years until he decided to go to college.  He graduated with an accounting degree from David Lipscomb College in Nashville, TN.  After college he worked at King Faisal’s Hospital in Saudi Arabia but most of his career was with Hospital Corporation of America.  He moved and travelled for HCA throughout his career.  One of the places he went to was Montgomery County Hospital in Blacksburg, VA.  He was the controller there and Blacksburg is where he met Karen.  Soon he was promoted again and became the Chief Financial Officer at Johnston Willis Hospital in Midlothian, VA.  Then he discovered his huge interest and talent for information technology and was the Eastern Division Information Officer for HCA.  He loved his work and made many friends at HCA.  Once retired, Jerry kept up an intense pace of pursuits.  He was an avid golfer, softball player, gardener and loved to fly his Cessna airplane.  His first trip after retirement was to fly all the way across the United States stopping along the way to see friends and relatives.  He had great skill with foreign languages and loved to travel. He made many trips to Europe but he was especially fond of Australia and New Zealand.  So now he has left on his greatest journey of all.

His bon voyage will be this Saturday, April 21 at 3 PM at Heritage Funeral Home with his nephew, Rev. Jeff Waldrop officiating. Burial will follow in Polk Memorial Gardens near his parents. Military honors will be provided by the United States Army.   A visitation will also be held on Saturday from 1-3 PM at Heritage Funeral Home. Heritage Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.