Obituary of Pastor Gerard W. Drum, Sr.
PASTOR GERARD W. DRUM, SR.
Cohocton, NY— Pastor Gerard 'Jerry' Drum Sr., 83, of Cohocton, formerly of Allegany, died at home in his sleep surrounded by his family after a 5 year battle with Alzheimer’s.
Jerry was born March 13th, 1934 in Elmira to Walter and Edith Zeh Drum. He graduated Valedictorian from Cohocton High School in 1951. It wasn’t long before Jerry knew his calling was to serve our Heavenly Father, and he began an 8-year journey of study, first at Fort Wayne Junior College and then attended 4 years at Concordia Seminary, graduating in May 1959. Jerry was ordained into the ministry at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cohocton in July 1959.
On December 20th, 1958, in Evansville, IN, he married Earline Bradley. He served dual parishes in Kurtzville, Ontario Canada, from 1959 to 1963. While in Canada, he served on the Ontario District Board of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.
In November of 1963, Jerry accepted a call to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Allegany. He faithfully served St. John’s for 33 years, right up until his retirement in April 1996. During his pastorate in Allegany, he served as Circuit Counselor three times and served on the board of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He was also a Red Cross CPR instructor and assisted with Red Cross disaster relief efforts. Jerry was an advanced Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Chaplain with the Allegany Fire Department for 33 years. He was the recipient of several lifesaving awards over the years and helped many people in Allegany, even delivering a couple of babies along the way! In 1975, Pastor Drum was named Cattaraugus County Fireman of the Year for heroism in rescuing an injured Olean firefighter during the sniper shooting at Olean High School. An award for Life Saving Excellence is given each year by the Allegany Fire Department in Pastor Drum’s honor.
Jerry was a very humble and soft-spoken man, as everyone who knew him could attest. He served the church and community faithfully, and touched so many lives in a positive way.
One of Jerry’s hobbies was being an avid ham radio operator for over 50 years. Now, KC2LZW has gone silent. Jerry was a coffee connoisseur, made his own wine and beer, was an avid reader/writer, guitar player and enjoyed jazz and classical music.
Surviving besides his wife Earline, are four sons, Jerry (Deb) Drum Jr. of Eldred, PA. Scott (Bev) Drum of Ithaca, Christopher (Chrisy) Drum of Baldwin, FL, and Joshua (Bridgette) Drum of Hoffman Estates, IL., and a daughter, Deborah (Mark) Balcerzak of Olean.
Jerry was also a grandfather to 18 grandchildren, Aaron (DeLisa) Drum, Shawn (Stephanie Miller) Drum, Nicholas (Kate Himes) Drum, Jamie (Andrew) Kubic, Matthew (Gypsy) Balcerzak, Mark (Laura) Balcerzak, Jr., Margie Balcerzak, Rochelle Drum, Sarah Drum, Krista (Dan) Hitchcock, Chad (Laura) Rylott, Brian Rylott, Zachary (Marissa) Drum, Micah Drum, Hannah Drum, Ryan Drum, Kaela Drum, Libby Drum, Jacob Drum, Grace Drum, and many great-grandchildren. Also surviving is a sister, Beverly (affectionately known as “Beever”) (Jerry) Prior of Hornell, as well as 3 nieces and a nephew.
Visitation will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church, N. 4th St., Allegany on Sunday, February 18th from 3pm-5pm and 6pm-8pm with a prayer service to be held at 5:30pm.
On Monday, February 19th, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Maple Avenue in Cohocton will host a visitation from 11am-noon in the fellowship hall and funeral services will immediately follow. Burial will be at a later date at the convenience of the family.
In lieu of flowers, donations are gratefully appreciated to CareFirst NY (GREEN TEAM), 3805 Meads Creek Rd. Painted Post, NY 14870 (www.carefirstNY.org) .
Arrangements are under the direction of the Casey, Halwig & Hartle Funeral Home, Olean. Online condolences may be expressed at oleanfuneralhome.com.
