I realized one of the great things about Facebook and blogs is that I can find photos without actually having them on my computer. Dad passed away Aug 4, 2011. He is interred at the Coe Ridge Cemetery established 1845. The above picture is Summer and I with my father in 2011 in Ohio at Timmy Gee's baptism. We were fortunate to get 1 picture of the kids with their grandpa.
This was probably Dad's last fishing trip at the Clinton Community Ponds in August of 2010. Nothing was caught that day.
This is a picture of my Dad with Kendall and Kevin and my mom.
Christmas 2007? I think Grandpa is holding Steven. The man definetly loved his Grandchildren.
GEE DR. RANDALL JARVIS GEE, age 74, passed away Aug. 4, 2011. Beloved husband of Janet (nee Erickson) for 42 years. Dear father of Kevin (Jennifer), Kendall (Carinne), Karen Berks (Benjamin), the late Keith, Kent (Alicia), Karl (Deborah), Kyle (Kirsten), and Kurt (Jillayne). Dear grandfather of 22, including the late grandson Alex. Dear brother of Marcia Conner (John), Marilyn Fronk (Rulon), Richard (Kim), Robert (Debbie) and the late Ronald (Beverly) and Roland (Kathleen). Dr. Gee was born in Salt Lake City, UT to the late Keith Wardell Gee and Melba May Jarvis Gee. Graduate of Utah State University, Ph.D. from Wayne State University, MI. Biology professor at Cleveland State University, 1970-1996. Taught many nursing students at Huron Road and Metro Hospitals. He and his family delivered newspapers for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for 23 years. Lifetime involvement in Scouting. Received the Silver Beaver Award from the Greater Cleveland Council of the Boy Scouts of America. His sons and son-in-law are all Eagle Scouts. Randy loved fishing, camping and spending time with family and friends. He will be deeply missed. PLEASE VISIT WITH THE FAMILY ON THURSDAY from 4-8 PM and on FRIDAY from 11-12:30 PM. All are welcome to attend the funeral on Friday at 1 PM. Please note the visitations and the funeral service are at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 25000 Westwood Rd., Westlake, OH. Interment at Coe Ridge Cemetery, North Olmsted, OH. Contributions may be made to: Boy Scouts of America, Greater Cleveland Council, 2241 Woodland Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115. Arrangements by BUTLER & SON FUNERAL HOME (216-226-0811).
This is the obituary of Dad that appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Dr. Randall Jarvis Gee
Eulogy for Randall Jarvis Gee (March 9, 1937-August 4, 2011)
Faculty Senate, Cleveland State University, September 14, 2011
Delivered by Jeffrey Dean/BGES Chair
Dr. Randall Jarvis Gee, an emeritus faculty member of our department and retired since 1997, died August 4th, 2011 at the age of 74.
As a preface to my remarks, let me say that he retired while the department was just biology and before I came to CSU, but that his family and other members of the department have provided me with the information for these remarks.
Randall Gee was born March 9th, 1937, in Salt Lake City. His father was a firefighter; his mother was a homemaker. Neither one had a college degree. As a high school student, Randy ran track and ran well. As a senior, he was part of the 1955 State champion 4x400 meter relay and medley relay. This talent earned him a track scholarship to Westminster College in Salt Lake, which, in turn, put him on a path to academia. So Randy and several siblings, like many of his CSU students, were the first generation in his family to graduate from college.
Randy graduated from Utah State University with a BS in Zoology. He pursued doctoral studies at Wayne State University and began teaching at Highland Park College in Detroit. In 1969, he graduated with a PhD in Medical Microbiology and Parasitology. He joined CSU as an Assistant Professor in 1970 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1974. His research was on the nervous system of parasites in the Acanthocephala—the spiny-headed or thorny-headed worms, but his primary love was teaching. Besides parasitology, he taught microbiology, introductory biology, and anatomy and physiology both here and to nursing students at Huron Road and Metro Hospitals. Many former students remembered his courses fondly, due to his humor, his stories or rather case studies often featuring his family, and his knowledge and enthusiasm. He was proud of his teaching and believed strongly that good teaching at all levels, including college, should be highly valued. He was rigorous, and once without hesitation gave the son of a close friend the ‘F” the boy earned and not the “D” he had missed by a point. He was a man of strong faith, but saw no contradiction between faith and science; he had little patience with those who disparaged “evolution” as just a “theory”. Later in life, as his health failed, he often encountered former students working as nurses and never failed to ask what grade they had earned in his anatomy and physiology course.
He married Janet Erickson in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1968. Together they had eight children: 7 boys and 1 girl. Apart from his children, he was devoted to his faith, to fishing, and to Scouting. The Greater Cleveland Council of the BSA awarded him a Silver Beaver Award in 1989 for his contributions to Scouting in the Cleveland area. All of his sons and his son-in-law are eagle scouts. In many other ways his children have carried on his academic, pedagogical, inventive, and do-it-yourself home builder streaks. They have 13 degrees, including a PhD, a JD, and a PhD-in-progress (ABD). These degrees led to careers in such fields as elementary school teaching, technology consulting, teaching and research in computer science and acoustics, commercial construction, retail management, law, and accounting.
Randy must have taught his children a lot of biology over the dinner table, because son Kevin recounts coming to CSU as an eighth grade student and doing well on one of his father’s introductory biology exams. In fact, Randy often brought his kids to CSU, particularly to keep an unobtrusive eye on students taking exams in his large classes. He occasionally employed them to grade multiple choice tests. Son Kevin noticed that even then biology multiple choice exams might be described as “tricky” and that his father’s humor and rigor might lead to all true-false questions on an exam being true. But he came away impressed by how his “dynamic, funny, self-effacing” father could capture and hold the attention of even a 7AM class, and also convinced that a career in science was the coolest thing ever.
Besides the testimonials from his students perhaps two final remarks serve to characterize Randall Gee. One is an appreciation from a colleague in position to judge, who remarked “that Randy really knew his parasites.” This is special praise if you know how complex parasites and their life cycles can be. The second is a quote from an article in the Plain Dealer in March, 2004, when he--at age 67--and his youngest son finally gave up the family paper route after nearly 23 years. The headline was “Extra! ‘Paperboy’ calls it a career”. The story went on to say that the Gees don’t “toss” newspapers. The quote from Randy is “Never did. It just seemed sloppy and not a good thing for the customers”. From what I can tell, he took the same approach to his teaching.
Thank you for your attention.
