About Jerry
On December 28, 2018, the gaming community took a tremendous hurt when Jerry Stefek was lost to cancer. An avid gamer, history buff, re-enactor, warm friend and loving father, Jerry’s death to this tragic disease was a huge loss to us all.
A father to his precious daughter and a husband to his loving wife Mary Ann, who was also tragically lost to cancer in 2015, Jerry was dedicated and always upbeat. Loved for his cordiality and humor by his friends, he was always there to help and appreciate the friendships which he valued deeply. This charity event is dedicated to this incredible man who loved his life and lived it to its fullest, bringing happiness to the friends and associations which he was a part of.
YOU HAVE BEEN EXECUTED!
Jerry’s gaming friends had a personal favorite quote from Jerry when he killed one of their characters, his signature gaming phrase was “YOU HAVE BEEN EXECUTED!” – it was a special memory for all of them as one of his friends explains below…
Jerry was the best of us. His home was our gaming nexus and he welcomed us at any time or day. The very first time I met Jerry was towards the end of 2000 and I spent a long time rolling up my first 3e character, a thief. We began playing, and on the very first encounter (within three minutes of starting), I scouted ahead. I was immediately captured by zombies who took me back to their lair and killed me. There was no dice rolling when this happened–it just happened in this matter-of-fact way, and Jerry said, “You have been executed.”
I was gobsmacked because I had never played a game where something like that happened. Jerry was famous for killing our characters and “You have been executed” became a comedic statement that spread to our weekly conversations…
Jerry was the most generous person I’ve ever met in how he gave both his time and help. He was always one of the most helpful people I’ve ever met, and when I realized some years after meeting him that he wasn’t a sociopath–I really just got executed, it just happened that way in Jerry’s head, and he didn’t mean anything at all…
I realized that Jerry was the most kind and gentle person I’ve ever met. He was always eager to laugh and he never got angry. Jerry loved hosting games at his house, or coffee night, or just whatever. People dropped by whenever, and he was happy to welcome them. He also hosted a yearly game convention called “JerryCon” where we played games all day and most of the night, and he would grill brats and make food for all of us. He also always said “thank you” when you did the littlest things, like make coffee for him in the morning. He was grateful for what he had, not angry about what he didn’t.
Jerry’s Obituary, Memorializing the man…
Reenactment and memorial Photos Courtesy of TGDavison Photography
thank you for your support!
Some soldiers march ahead, waiting for us until we meet again.