Birth date: Aug 28, 1939 Death date: Sep 8, 2018
Thomas G. Gerig, 79, passed away on Saturday, September 8, 2018 at Golden Years Homestead Assisted Living. He was the son of the late Ralph and Garnet (Hutker) Gerig. Tom was a member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne and Read Obituary
We're saddened to learn of Tom's passing. Thoughts and prayers are being sent your way. We miss them at WWI.....
I don’t know why but as Derek’s best friend, for some reason Tom decided my name was “Dude.” I was never Ryan to him. I was Dude, and so I accepted that. To make a long story short I will just say that on Halloween night of 2015 without a drop of alcohol in me I was in a car accident that was 100% the fault of the operator of a horse and buggy outside of Harlan Indiana. About 3 weeks later when I was visiting Derek and Tara they told me that when their Grandpa (Tom) found out about the accident he first said “is Dude alright?!?” Once he was told that I was okay he adimatly needed to know the name of the (insert expletive)’s name and what family he’s in. He could have killed Dude!!” Derek and Tara calmed him down, and it made for a good laugh, but in all honesty I was quite moved by the fact that he felt so strongly for me that he wanted to go knock down someone’s door at the age of 76 to give them a piece of his mind over my well-being. He was a great man and I will always miss hearing “Hey Dude!”
