Wesley Gerrans

December 1941 – June 23, 2025

Wesley Gerrans, 83, a devoted husband, father, and craftsman, passed away peacefully at home after a years-long decline due to Parkinson’s Disease, leaving a legacy marked by faith, ingenuity, and service.

Born in San Jose, California, Wes was the youngest of six and the only son of Bert and Edith Gerrans. He grew up on the family’s 40-acre homestead near Saratoga, where his early years were filled with animals, adventure, and mechanical curiosity. From a young age, he showed an inventive spirit—once dismantling and reassembling a clock when he was five—and a love for the outdoors, rolling an iron wheel around hilly terrain and biking up to 30 miles a day to attend school.

Wes attended Monterey Bay Academy and graduated from Andrews University with a degree in Industrial Arts Education and a minor in Theology. He worked hard to put himself through school, and would often fall asleep in class due to working nights. During college, he hitchhiked across the country, and once drove 15 miles in reverse when his car’s forward gear failed. He met his wife Jacque at Andrews, and in 1965 they began a lifetime of shared adventure. He was drafted for the Vietnam War and was planning to go as a medic, but he was not accepted into the military due to deep scar tissue on his feet. The scar tissue came about from him happening upon a flash flood and helping push stalled cars out of the knee deep water. He removed his dress shoes to not get them wet, but with the cold water numbing his feet and him continuing to help others, his feet were worn raw down to the muscles in places as he worked.

Wes taught industrial arts for a high school in Michigan for several years before turning to construction in Michigan and later Montana. He fished commercially in Alaska for five summers, built his own salmon boat, and survived a harrowing storm at sea through quick thinking and prayer. Wes and Jacque moved to Nebraska in 1980, where he worked at Platte Valley Academy as groundskeeper, maintenance man, and bus driver. They changed locations to Kansas in 1989, where Wes earned his master electrician’s license, becoming a plant electrician and later a teacher at Northwest Kansas Technical College.

Wes loved working with his hands, and he could fix just about anything. His projects included restoring antique furniture, remodeling homes, designing custom cabinetry, and rebuilding cars as gifts to his college-age children. Wes was known for helping others—whether remodeling a basement, rewiring a house, roofing a building or working on an engine. He was rarely without a project and never happier than when he had tools in hand and was solving some problem that someone foolishly said “couldn’t be done.” He assisted family, friends and even strangers with countless projects at little to no cost; serving in this way was his joy and personal mission.

His love for God shaped every part of his life. Wes participated in several Maranatha projects, and completed major improvements for multiple churches free of charge. He studied his Bible deeply, diving into the meaning of specific words in the original Hebrew or Greek. Over the years, he served his local church as head elder, deacon, Sabbath School leader, and treasurer, as well as giving quite a few sermons.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Jacque; his daughter, Lisa Forbes (Barry) of Lincoln, NE; his son, Neil (Yvette) of Seattle WA and their children, Spencer and Kamilla; sisters, Alice Gerrans of Cottontown, TN and Verna Dimick (Del) of Monterey, TN. He is predeceased by his parents, Bert and Edith Gerrans; and sisters Cecelia Sewell, Willadel Nelson, and Leola Cote.

A remembrance service will be held at the College View Church Heartland Hall in Lincoln, NE on Saturday, July 19 at 4:00 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to Union Adventist University Scholarship Fund.

To leave a condolence please use the form below.