Jerry Bertagnolli

Jerry Bertagnolli, age 81, died peacefully at his Grants Pass home Friday morning, April 28, 2023.

Jerry was born in 1941 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  After his mother’s death in 1952, he relocated to Grants Pass in 1954 with his father and graduated from Grants Pass High School in 1959.  Since 1963 he owned and operated J&B Excavating (aka J&B Rock).  He was a skilled heavy equipment operator and participated in many of the large construction projects in our area including: construction of the Grants Pass Shopping Center, Applegate Bridge on Fish Hatchery Road, redesign of 6^th and 7^th streets in Grants Pass which made them each one-way streets, the Talent, Oregon water system as well as the Eugene, Oregon water pipeline, many miles of fire safety mountain roads, and construction of the Jackson County Medford Airport, to name a few.  He also owned a rock crushing operation for many years.  He was a Logger through and through in the Rogue Valley his entire adult life. 

Jerry was an animal lover and always had room to care for one more kitty.  He was good man loved by many. An extremely hard worker with a strong work ethic.  He was confirmed Catholic and attended Catholic School in Utah in his youth.

Jerry’s hobbies included working, then working again, and finally working some more.  He truly enjoyed putting on his work clothes, firing up his coffee percolator at 5am, stopping for breakfast at a local diner with his buddies, then getting out into the outdoors to work in the woods.  He loved spending time with his family playing card games as well as cribbage and traveling to family reunions in Wyoming and Utah.  He loved to fish the local lakes and take his boat out ocean crabbing in Coos Bay.

Jerry was a member of the Grants Pass Fraternal Order of Eagles #1584 as well as the Grants Pass Elks Lodge #2146 for many years.

He volunteered as a Deputy Reservist with the Josephine County Sheriff’s Department as a licensed private pilot.  During this time, he flew several rescue missions.

Jerry married his childhood sweetheart Darlene Heim Bunch in 1961. They had two children - Joe Bertagnolli of Portland, Oregon and Mary Bertagnolli of Grants Pass, Oregon and grandchildren Jordon Bertagnolli, Drew Shane, and Katie Shane.

In 1986 Jerry married Shirley Branham.  Shirley & Jerry remained married until her passing in 2022. Shirley had six children from a previous marriage - Willis Sarver (now deceased), Malinda Mostowa, Anita McCue, Sherry Brass, Terry Sarver, and Tina Wheeling (now deceased). Shirley & Jerry shared 21 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Christmas was a busy place to say the least!

He was preceded in death by his father Fred Bertagnolli of Grants Pass in 1994: his mother A. Thelma Bertagnolli of Ogden, Utah in 1952 as well as a brother Fredie Bertagnolli in 1937.

In lieu of flowers remembrances may be made to Josephine County Humane Society for the spay and neuter fund.

A graveside service will be at 1:00 p.m., June 10, 2023 at Wilderville Cemetery in Wilderville, Oregon.