Gerald W. “Gary” Pierce passed away July 31, 2019 at his home. Visitation will be from 8:30 -10:00 AM with Funeral Services following at 10:00 AM, Thursday, August 8, 2019 at Lenexa Baptist Church, 15320 W 87th St Pkwy, Lenexa, KS 66219.
He was born on September 2, 1936 to Glen and Dorine Pierce in Newton, KS. At the young age of 12 he accepted Christ and was baptized. He graduated from Newton High School in 1954 and then attended Wichita State University. In 1958, Gary married Joyce Nelson while working as an inspector at Boeing. Due to the cyclical ups and downs in the aviation industry, Gary was laid off. In order to make ends meet, he worked as a car salesman for a while and then with insurance. A dream of his was to live in Colorado. With the uncertainty of his employment, his took a risk by driving to Denver, got a job at Stanley Aviation, then brought his wife and baby daughter to Aurora, CO. During his short stay in Colorado, Gary worked for a time servicing missile silos in the area. Gary, Joyce and Diane lived in Colorado for around 2 years but felt the need to be closer to his extended family. He brought the family back to Wichita and began working at Beechcraft and later moved to Learjet in the Flight Certification group. At this time, they welcomed their second child, David. Gary changed jobs one last time to work for the Federal Aviation Administration. In 1969, the family moved from Wichita to Merriam and then later to Shawnee where his professional roles and responsibilities continued to grow. Gary retired in 1995 after more than 29 years of service from the FAA and was proud of his contributions with establishing new standards and procedures.
Gary was actively involved in church throughout his life. He especially cherished his time serving the Lenexa Baptist Church (LBC) family for nearly 15 years as a teacher, deacon and member of the personnel committee. The friendship with members of the staff and church family has been a great blessing to him and Joyce. If ever the topic of Israel popped up in a conversation, Gary loved to share his experience visiting the Holy Lands with members of LBC. One of his favorite moments was getting baptized on the Jordan River and riding a horse to visit the city of Petra.
The message Gary would want to leave with all of us is this: we are all broken in some way or another by past hurts, mistakes and sins that so easily entangle us and separates us from God. But the good news of the Gospel is God sent His son Jesus to forgive us of our sins, to help lighten the burdens and pains of life and to redeem the time that we have together for those who trust in Him. We only need to reach out and ask to receive His forgiveness, because Jesus is already waiting.
Gary was preceded in death by his mother, Dorine and sister, Beverly Johnson. He is survived by his wife Joyce, his daughter Diane Buckman (Jon) and son David Pierce (Lois) and a total seven grandchildren and their spouses.