Jerry Cardo

Wednesday December 16th 2020

We lost a great member from our RV family on the weekend, not just a retired farmer from Wisconsin, but a very elegant man. Oh he didn’t wear fancy clothes, or drive a big fancy vehicle, but his very presence demanded respect, his knowledge was vast, his opinions whether you agreed with them or not were always elegantly presented, and articulately explained, no Jerry was not just a retired farmer from Wisconsin, he was such a soft spoken gentleman but his words seemed carry enormous weight and power from his lifetime of experience.

Jerry and his partner Cindy are one of the reasons that we are doing what we are doing. We first met Jerry and Cindy on December the first of twenty seventeen, and I remember it like it was just a few days ago. Miss Cindy was the firecracker that had invited us to happy hour before we were even finished parking, for our first month long stay, at a time when we weren’t just to sure we had made the right decision about extended camping stays beyond a couple of days. We were only a few days over two months of full-timing, and just a little over one month on the road.

Miss Laurie and I have always been quite private people, working in the automotive service industry for over forty years and dealing with so many people every day, kind of wears on you, so when off duty, we usually kept to ourselves, we had very few true friends. We had lots of aquatints from work, but not a lot of real friends, so while not shy, we just kept quite private. So the whole RV family thing was still so very new and, such an unknown to us that that point.

That day, just a few days more that four years ago actually had changed our lives forever. And while not totally because of Jerry and Cindy, but it was their friendship, caring, and inclusiveness that made us so sure that we were on the right road (no pun intended). Jerry was a Christian, a Republican, and a Trump supporter, none of which would instantly endear him to me but I leant that he spoke from his heart, he accepted that there were various different opinions and beliefs, but he held firm to his thoughts but was more than willing to listen to everyone else’s opinion without forcing his beliefs on anyone. We spoke of his farm, his family, the difficulties of farm life, especially dairy farms, we spoke of retirement and his life after the farm. And while we did not always agree on some things, we both did have a much better understanding of the opposing opinion.

Jerry was also an avid reader and could almost always be found sitting in the Arizona sun reading (or napping), just watching the world rush by. He was a Facebook user, liking and sharing many post, and I know many people much younger, that weren’t nearly as computer savvy. We were lucky enough to have spent time with Jerry and Cindy last December while in Arizona and had planned to catch up again this winter until the pandemic changed our plans. And while it was the coronavirus that took Jerry, there were underlying health issues, and I’m sure he is in a better place today because of his beliefs, but he will truly be missed by many of us let alone by his family.

Rest In Peace Jerry, I feel so honoured to have been able to have spend quality time with you in the past few years.