CORONADO Gerry Brummitt had an unconditional warm regard for all people at all times. That was his daily mantra and how he lived his life. He never met a person or situation he couldn’t smile at. His friendly nature was overwhelming. His tools were a big smile and Southern drawl. That was Gerry Brummitt.
“Dad’s adult life could be summed up as 20 years in the Navy, 20 years doing Cybernetic leadership training, and 20 years of community service, which touched a lot of people in a lot of places, in a lot of wonderful ways,” said his son Jeff.
Gerry Brummitt, in the arms of his grandmother.
Gerald Fuller Brummitt died November 20 of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease. He was surrounded by loving family until the very end. He was 87.
Born June 3, 1927, in Henderson, North Carolina to Samuel Brooks Brummitt and Elizabeth Fuller Brummitt, Gerry was the youngest of three children. He was a fourth generation of Brummitts to grow up on the family tobacco farm. His mother was a concert pianist and Daughter of the American Revolution. Gerry remembered his childhood on the farm before electricity came to North Carolina.
Flying meant everything to young Gerry Brummitt. Here he is holding an award-winning model plane he built.
As a young boy at the end of the Great Depression, Gerry began each day keeping the fires lit that provided smoke to cure tobacco produced on their 30-acre farm. Gerry got his speed from running rabbit traps every morning before school. While other kids delivered newspapers on their bikes, Gerry would run perimeters of the 30-acre ranch, clearing traps along the fence-line and bringing home fresh meat for the family.
His life would be forever changed when a crop duster buzzed the farm one morning in his World War I biplane. Like all the other kids in town, Gerry ran to an open field where the plane landed. The pilot was offering to pay local kids to run gasoline down a long dirt road to the field, where he would take adventure seekers flying for a fee. The pilot saw something special in Gerry and offered him the job running gas. Gerry, however, wouldn’t accept his money. He wanted to fly. And fly he did. One can imagine this young farm boy flying over North Carolina and seeing the world for the first time from up high.
Always fit, always pushing the limits in sports and athletics, Gerry Brummitt constantly worked to improve his physical stamina and capabilities. He ran cross-country both in high school and at the Naval Academy.
As a young man, Gerry Brummitt loved sports, cars, girls and of course flying.
He went on to work odd jobs until finally earning enough money to get his private pilot license, which he did while still in his teens, even before he learned to drive a car.
He attended high school in North Carolina and ran cross-country, overcoming a debilitating childhood stutter along the way. Gerry was winning speech contests in no time at all. He ran cross-country for the US Naval Academy too, where he graduated in 1949 with a degree in electrical engineering. While there he learned to sail racing on the celebrated Naval Academy Luder yawls based there.
While at the Naval Academy, Gerry Brummitt sailed the legendary Academy Luder yawls; seen here is seen with guests under sail.
After graduation Ensign Brummitt served a tour off the shore of Korea aboard the converted minesweeper USS Doyle before realizing his ambition to become a naval aviator. He earned his wings in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1953, and was assigned to VF-61, flying F9s aboard USS Midway. As an aside, Gerry contracted appendicitis en route to flight school and nearly died getting to the hospital. He only had a few days after the operation before reporting to flight training, but he wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to fly.
In March of 1954 Mary Gwendolyn Foran and Lt (JG) Gerald F. Brummitt were married in Corpus Christi, Texas. They had four children Jeffery, Elizabeth, Rosalind and David.
The wedding of Mary Gwendolyn Foran and Lt. (JG) Gerald F. Brummitt.
Gerry loved squadron life. From homeport in Oceana, Virginia, he flew A-4 aircraft in VA 81 aboard USS Shangri La, and then was a flight instructor in the Advanced Flying Unit in Millington, Tennessee. He served on the staff of COMFAIRELM in Naples, Italy for two colorful and active years. Subsequently he was USN representative to the North American Air Defense Command at Syracuse, New York, and at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. His most favorite tour was as Commanding Officer VA-83, flying from USS Forrestal.
During his time in the Navy Gerry flew the Navy A-4 Skyhawk – a single seat, carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Skyhawks played key roles in the Vietnam War.
Mary Gwen and Gerry never stopped celebrating each other, never stopped loving. Theirs was a match made in heaven.
The Brummitt family came to Coronado in 1967 and Gerry went straight to sea as executive officer on the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard, where he did several tours to Vietnam. He retired at the rank of commander in 1969 and return to civilian life and his young family. Gerry had served his country proudly from 1949-1969.
As a civilian, Gerry earned his MBA from National University and founded Cybernetics of San Diego. He built on his USN experiences with many naval leaders as well as his own post-graduate academic training. For 20 years Cybernetics Leadership Center was active in leadership training for military and civilian clients in San Diego and Washington, D.C.
Their first boat, “After Hours,” sailing in Naples, Italy.
Gerry was very engaged with his four children. He would enter tennis and golf tournaments with them, go jogging with them, and invite them to lunch at the Coronado Rotary when they were in town. He was forever calling them on the phone and checking in, getting regular updates on his extended family.
“His mother played piano but dad had no particular musical talent,” said daughter Elizabeth. “I learned to play the piano, and there was one particular song that dad loved dearly, Moonlight Becomes You.’ It was his favorite. Whenever we were together, I would play it and he would sing along. It was at times like that, that I will remember my dad relaxing and feeling happy. Not that he wasn’t happy and grounded all the time, but for that few minutes I played his song, he seemed to go to a level deeper.”
Gerry Brummitt, aboard the USS Forrestal in the early 1960s.
“Gerry addressed all endeavors and projects with characteristic energy, organization, and he enjoyed working with people,” said his wife Mary Gwen. In response to a change in state funding of public schools, he founded and was an early president of the Coronado Schools Foundation and also Coronado SAFE (Substance Abuse Free Environment). He was an early participant in Coronado MainStreet Ltd. and he actively supported several Coronado political leaders. Over the years, he was an engaged mentor to many young adults who came to his attention. He was a member of Coronado Rotary.
“One of my favorite memories,” said son Jeff, “was while working at Jack Lewis Realty in Coronado, years ago. Dad and I would play golf a couple times a week back then. When he had a break in his day he would call me and say, Meet me at North Island in 15 minutes for nine quick holes.’ That was a beautiful time for me. In those days you took that kind of time for granted. Now, reflecting back, it’s one of the jewels in the crown in the memories of my dad.”
Gerry Brummitt, Operations Officer, on board the USS Bon Homme Richard off the coast of Vietnam.
He was a collaborator who was brilliant at sharing a vision, recruiting people and getting things done. For many years Gerry was an active leader and participant at St. Paul’s Methodist Church and in the Coronado Community Church. During his last several years he was pleased to be a member of Christ Episcopal Church.
Throughout his long life, Gerry made many friends through his tennis, jogging, golf and bicycling. It was not uncommon for him to finish three sets of tennis and then ride the Silver Strand on his bike. But he didn’t just ride – he rode fast. This was Gerry at his best always pushing the physical limits of his body.
He was always aware of quality of leadership from his early days on. Gerry Brummitt left the Navy after 20 years and founded Cybernetics of San Diego, providing leadership training for military and civilian clients in San Diego and Washington, D.C.
He loved to sail his Cal-34 sailboat around the harbor and offshore as far as Catalina, which he enjoyed for 20 years. He kept his boat at the Navy Yacht Club Fiddler’s Cove in Coronado. Gerry had an endless fascination with rough weather and the ocean.
Daughter Elizabeth remembered once he tied a rope around her waist and that of her brother Jeff, and walked out into a frothing ocean and storm surf in the wake of a hurricane. “He loved rough weather,” recalled Elizabeth, “and especially at the helm of his sailboat.”
A proud Gerry Brummitt is seen here (top) with all his four children and grandchildren in 1996. Below he is seen with grandsons Andrew and Ben Ziccardi.
Gerry was a man of inner reflection and strength. “Dad was a man of deep compassion, wisdom and action,” said daughter Rosalind. “He very purposely lived his life to make the world a better place by thinking where the world was and what it needed, and what he could actively address personally. It mattered to him that what he spent his life, his time, his energy on, was for good whether in personal or community life.”
Many remember seeing Gerry driving around town in their classic 1957 Chevy, with the high tail fins. “It was his dad’s car, my grandfather bought it new from a dealer in Brenham, Texas,” said son David, “and Dad drove it for many years.” It will become his son Jeff’s car now, giving the classic automobile three generations of ownership in the Brummitt family.
On sneaking out of work to catch a few holes with dad, son Jeff Brummitt said: “That was a beautiful time for me. In those days you took that kind of time for granted. Now, reflecting back, it’s one of the jewels in the crown in the memories of my dad.”
Gerry is survived by his wife Mary Gwen Brummitt of Coronado; son Jeffrey Foran Brummitt of San Diego; daughter Elizabeth Isherwood Brummitt (Robert Mellott) of Del Mar; daughter the Reverend Rosalind Ziccardi (Chaplain, Colonel Gary Ziccardi, USAF) Okinawa, Japan; and son David Foran Brummitt of San Diego.
Five grandchildren also survive him. They are: Captain Andrew Fuller Ziccardi (USA), Benjamin Brummitt Ziccardi, Brooks Jensen Brummitt, Sylvia Foran Brummitt and Samantha Rae Brummitt.
Gerry loved sailing his Cal-34, named “Shamon.” Here he is seen here with his sons, from left, David and Jeff.
A Memorial Service is planned for Monday, December 29 at 11 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 1119 Ninth Street, Coronado. In keeping with Gerry’s community mindedness the family requests that, in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Coronado SAFE or Coronado Schools Foundation in the memory of Gerald F. Brummitt.
“He will be remembered with joy.”
