When Bill Munro thinks of his father Gerald “Jerry” Munro, he sees him kneeling near a flower bed with a huge smile on his face.
Jerry passed away at 98 years old on July 10 after spending the morning doing what he loved, working at his nursery. Jerry opened Munro’s Nursery in Kenmore around 1927, where he sold plants and flowers.
“His main interests were plants and people,” Bill said. “He was the Chief, he had plenty of things for idle hands to do.”
Jerry was born in 1916 on Christmas Eve in Bismarck, North Dakota. His family moved to Queen Anne Hill in Seattle around 1927.
Jerry graduated from Queen Anne High where he participated in football, wrestling, and ice hockey. He majored in horticulture-agronomy with a minor in landscaping at Washington State College where he met his future wife, Jean Kathryn Jespersen. While there, he affiliated with Delta Upsilon and was a champion wrestler.
He graduated from the University of Washington, where he followed up with graduate-level studies in cytology and cell structure, but he considered himself a life-long Cougar. He served as quality supervisor at Boeing during WWII, before starting his nurseries in Kenmore and Kirkland.
“My dad was known in the community as a designer and pioneering nurseryman,” Bill said. “He first started raising and selling plants in Queen Anne before he moved to Kenmore.”
Jerry also sold plants from his home nursery. In 2007, he was targeted and robbed, but fought back.
“It was two women and a man that came to buy flowers from him at his home,” Bill recalled. “The man paid my dad with a $20 bill and when my dad reached for his wallet to give him change, the man assaulted him, trying to take his wallet and cell phone.”
Jerry put the man in a headlock and yanked him two the ground, where the two reportedly wrestled. The thief made off with the then 90-year-old Jerry’s wallet, cell phone and keys. The stollen wallet contained credit and ATM cards, several pieces of identification, around $300 in cash and $2,000 in checks written for prior purchases.
Jerry managed to recover $1,380 from the stolen checks. Everett police apprehended the suspects, who were wanted felons, a few months later, according to an article written by the Reporter in August 2007.
“My dad said his response to the robbery to fight back was simply a reflex,” Bill said. “But he was a strong guy.”
Bill said Jerry was an inspiration to all who met him. His plants and landscapes live on in countless homes around Puget Sound.
