Gerald Roy Baxter

Mechanical engineer and metallurgist Gerald Roy Baxter, a Lab retiree and a 50-year Livermore resident, died May 24, in Walnut Creek, after a brief illness. He was 88.

He was born in Edmonton, Alberta on Nov. 1, 1921, to Roy and Hazel Baxter during the depression in Canada. He moved to the Grays Harbor area of Washington state in the early 1930s.

At the age of 15, Baxter contracted polio and lived in a Seattle hospital receiving rehabilitation. During his stay, he was visited by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She made a point of visiting patients with polio across the country, providing them with support and inspiration, given President Franklin Roosevelt’s experience with polio.

After rehabilitation, Baxter returned to the Grays Harbor area to work side-by-side with his father at a plywood factory.

Baxter graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, while working various jobs as a clerk in a local pharmacy and in the engineering department of the U.S. Merchant Marines at the Port of Seattle during World War II.

He patented an irrigation pump early in his career and was a licensed professional metallurgical and mechanical engineer in Washington and California. In 1949, while visiting relatives in Southern California, Baxter met and later married Joan Ferrier in 1950. They moved to Tacoma, Wash. where he worked at several engineering positions.

In 1955, they moved to Livermore where he began work at LLNL as a mechanical engineer and metallurgist. He retired in 1981 after working for the Laboratory for 28 years.

Baxter took his wife and children, Janice and Paul, to most of the national parks in California bestowing upon them his deep regard for nature and camping. As a family, they frequently drove in their family station wagon up the Northwest coast to the Grays Harbor area to visit family.

During Baxter’s retirement, he was the sole proprietor of a custom fishing rod business, Angler’s Options, enabling him to combine his engineering and creative skills in designing colorful rods for many fishermen in the local East Bay area. He also developed skills in photography and microwave cooking.

Baxter developed various chronic conditions, including those related to post-polio.

He always was optimistic about his future. He moved to Manor Care Tice Valley skilled nursing facility in Walnut Creek, where he lived for more than six years. There he developed many friendships and received the support of his family and staff.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Joan, who died in 1987.

Baxter is survived by daughter, Janice Baxter Rubin and her husband, Victor Rubin of Oakland; son, Paul Roy Baxter, his wife Jody Baxter and their daughters Rachael and Mary Francis, who live in Lancaster, Ohio; his brother, Dean Baxter and his wife Sally Baxter of Montesano, Wash. and their children Louise, Daniel, Jim, Steve and Mary Ann, and niece Susan Baxter Wells.

A private interment was held at Memory Gardens, Livermore, following a private memorial service. Contributions in Baxter’s name may be made to the Sierra Club.