Jerry Claude Shuck

 Jerry Claude Shuck passed peacefully into the loving arms of Jesus on Monday, January 23, 2023, surrounded by his pastor, family and friends. He was born to Claude Lamont Shuck and Alice Virginia Shuck on March 31, 1944, in Sturgis, South Dakota, the third of six kids.  He was raised on the family farm on Whitewood Creek near Vale, South Dakota.  Growing up, the Shuck family raised livestock and engaged primarily in dryland farming.  Jerry was active in high school sports.  He played basketball and was quarterback for the Vale Beetdiggers’ football team. In eighth grade, Jerry met the love of his life, Bernita Lee Shuck, and they started goin’ steady in high school under the watchful eye of her big brother Don and dated throughout high school.  High school was a time for studying as education was an emphasis in the Shuck family.  However, those years were also filled working the family farm, having fun with family and friends, attending ice staking parties, raiding the neighbor’s watermelon patch, and driving his ‘57 Chevy.  Jerry graduated in 1962.  He often joked that he graduated in the top 10 in his class of 9 students.  After high school, Jerry worked on a combine crew for the summer for his uncle Ashton.  In the fall, he enrolled in the National College of Business in Rapid City, South Dakota, and worked as a bag boy at the local grocery store to pay for college.  He graduated with a degree in Accounting in 1965.  During college, Jerry and Bernita were married in Sturgis, South Dakota on May 31, 1964, and started their great adventure together.  After graduation, the young couple moved to Los Angeles to start his accounting career and take on the big city.  Living there during the riots, it soon became clear that bigger was not better and they moved back to South Dakota.  Jerry started working for the accounting firm of Dunmire & Short in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1966.  He became a Certified Public Accountant in 1972.  In 1974, Jerry became a partner in the firm and moved his family to Gillette, Wyoming to start a branch office shortly thereafter. After starting the one-man Gillette branch office in the fall of 1974, Jerry built an accounting business that grew with Gillette to be what was once the largest accounting firm in Wyoming.  In the 1990s, the Gillette firm became Shuck, Marso & Bennett.  After over 40 years of tax seasons, Jerry retired from the accounting practice he built in 2008. Jerry and Bernita enjoyed retirement together to its fullest.  Summers were spent at the cabin at Keyhole, where he taught his grandkids to golf, fish, ride bikes, drive the boat, and play in the water.  The fall months were dedicated to hunting deer and elk in Wyoming with his hunting friends and sons and celebrating holidays in Gillette with kids and grandkids.  During the winter, Jerry and Bernita explored a few locations in Arizona golfing, biking, and sight-seeing before finally settling in Mesa. Jerry was brave and adventurous.  During their 58 years of marriage, Bernita and Jerry had many great adventures.  They traveled to Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, and took a cruise through the Panama Canal.  He hunted Alaskan moose, caribou, and whitetail deer in Canada and Alaska with his hunting buddies Jim and Kevin on a few occasions.  He started his own business and, when it was time, gave his sons the guidance and encouragement to start their own businesses. Although he enjoyed traveling, he loved Wyoming the most.  Over the last 47 years living in Wyoming, he visited and explored much of the State.  Family summer vacations were often to parts of Wyoming the family had not yet seen.  He enjoyed skiing in Jackson Hole, fishing at Keyhole Reservoir, hunting deer in the Black Hills, and taking his family to explore various other parts of the state.  He hunted deer, antelope, elk, moose, big horn sheep, caribou, turkeys, geese, and pheasants.  He fished for walleye, northern pike, and trout in the Western US and Canada, and sailfish off the west coast of Mexico.  The Big Sandy area of the Wind River mountains was a special place for him, where he hunted elk and moose with his sons for over 25 years. And he loved Gillette.  He watched Gillette blossom from a small ranching community to a bustling community that has become the Energy Capitol.  He was active on many local groups and wanted to give back to the community that had given him so much.  He served as Chairman/President of the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way.  During his time serving as President of the Chamber of Commerce, he was part of starting the “plant a tree” program that has lined the streets of Gillette with the trees you see today.  Although Jerry and Bernita loved to spend time at their cabin in Pine Haven and loved to winter with family and friends in Mesa, Arizona, Gillette was his home until the end. Jerry was an active member of First Baptist Church throughout his 47 years in Gillette and developed many valued, enduring friendships with his church family.  Jerry accepted the Lord, was baptized, and became a member of the church in 1974.  He utilized his gift for numbers by serving on the Board of Trustees for many years.  Jerry led his family to be active in church activities and served in numerous other capacities. Jerry and Bernita had 2 children, Brian Claude Shuck in 1966 and Michael Lynn Shuck in 1968.  Jerry supplied his children with innumerable opportunities for learning, growth and adventure.  Because tax season was a busy time, Jerry made the rest of the year family time.  Growing up, school was a priority in the Shuck house, but so was family time at Keyhole Reservoir nearly every summer weekend, where he taught his kids to camp, fish and water ski.   As his kids got older, Jerry introduced them to antelope, deer, and elk hunting.  In the winter, he made family ski vacations a priority and he planned numerous trips to ski with family and friends. He was preceded in death by his father, Claude Lamont Shuck; mother, Alice Virginia Shuck; and grandson, Mason Bailey Shuck.  He was also preceded in death by brother-in-law, Marvin Aga, and sister-in-law, Cheri Shuck. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Bernita Lee Shuck, the love of his life, best friend and partner in many adventures.  He is also survived by his 5 siblings, Karel (Marvin) Aga, Luann (Doug) Melum, Neil (Faith) Shuck, Lynn (Cheri) Shuck, and Marietta (Jack) Marler, and many brothers and sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews, of whom he was so proud.  Jerry is also survived by their two sons, Brian Claude Shuck and his wife Marci of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Michael Lynn Shuck and his wife Gretchen of Red Lodge, Montana.   He is also survived by his four grandchildren, MacKenna Hope Shuck, Connor Jackson Shuck, Addison Bailee Shuck and Emily Grace Shuck, of whom he was so proud and who he loved dearly.  One of his greatest joys in life was being Papa to Mason and his other 4 grandkids.  The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at First Baptist Church, located at 501 South Gillette Avenue in Gillette, Wyoming, followed by an inurnment service at Mt. Pisgah Cemetery at 804 South Emerson in Gillette, immediately followed by a celebration of life at the Mount Pisgah fellowship hall.  In lieu of flowers, anyone wishing to make a donation in Jerry’s memory may do so directly to the United Mitrochondrial Disease Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Relay for Life, Camp Wyoba for scholarships, or the charity of his/her choice. Memorials and condolences may be sent in care of Gillette Memorial Chapel 210 West 5^th Street, Gillette, WY 82716. Condolences may also be expressed at www.gillettememorialchapel.com