Gerald Wayne Rowe
Address: 12572 Cherry Avenue, Rapid City, MI 49676-9382
Spouse: Patricia “Pat” Waldby (Classmate passed away April 20, 2025)
Bio: August 31, 2026
After Pat and I graduated we were married in early August. We enrolled at Alpena Community College where I graduated in 1966 with an Associate degree in Science in Electrical Technology. I continued my education at Jackson Community College then in 1969 transferred to Michigan Tech where, in 1971, graduated with a BSEE, with honor.

I worked for Consumers Power (Consumers Energy) for 37 years, retiring in 2004 from the Bay City office as a Senior Engineer.

During my employment at Consumers, Pat and I bought a 70 acre farm south of Shepherd, Michigan where we worked our butts off rebuilding an old farm house, garage, “harness shop”, granery, root cellar and constructing a new pole barn. There was a very sharp “learning curve” for a city boy, but we enjoyed seeing crops grow and learning the technical aspects of farming.

Around 1990 we bought some used “line construction/tree cutting” equipment and did pole setting for Charter, installation of roadway lighting for an industrial park and of course, tree cutting/trimming. Pat really enjoyed the pole setting as she operated the “digger/Derrick.”

We had one child. After he graduated from high school, he attended West Point and graduated in 1987. He spent the next 5 years as an E.O.D. (Explosive Ordiance Disposal) squad located in Germany. His assignment allowed us to travel to Germany (and surrounding countries) to visit him and his family.

Prior to retirement we bought a small house on Pine Island, Florida, near Fort Myers where we have spent the last 21 years. Pat passed last year in Florida unexpectedly.

During my years at Consumers, I played a lot of softball (20 +/- years) which I really enjoyed. Also got back into running to attempt to stave off too much weight gain. Ran lots of local races–I have the T-Shirts to prove it, plus 2 marathons, one in Columbus and the other in Traverse City.