BARRHEAD - Barrhead area residents, especially those in the business community, are in mourning after learning about Gerald "Jerry" Urlacher's passing on June 17.
He was 84.
Urlacher, who had retired in 2006, was an active member of the Barrhead Chamber of Commerce, the Barrhead Retail Merchants Committee, and the Businessman's Association.
"He was a great person and a close friend," Richard Ward said.
Ward first met Urlacher in the mid-1970s.
"He owned or co-owned the Merit Hardware Store, and his business was next to where I worked," he said.
At the time, Ward was a pharmacist at Lane's Drug Store, now Savory Bliss and Grill on Main Street, while Merit Hardware was two doors down in the now I.D.A.-RX Drug Mart.
Urlacher would later move the Merit Hardware Store into the Barrhead Mall after its construction in 1978.
Ward added that his friend was instrumental in creating Barrhead's Street Festival.
"It started as a much smaller event involving only the merchants on the south side of Main Street, as the Block Two Sale, in 1976," he said. "The event would then evolve into Bonanza Days and finally the Street Festival."
Urlacher was also the driving force behind bringing the community's mascot, Aaron the Blue Heron, to Barrhead.
He said Urlacher, Adolf Bablitz, a former town councillor and long-time Barrhead Agricultural Society board member, now deceased, Dave Nicol and himself were hunting pheasants near Brooks.
"We came back through Hanna, and we saw their geese statues, and Jerry goes on to how [Barrhead] needed a Blue Heron," he said. "He had Aaron built. It has now been here for over 30 years."
Unfortunately, eventually, Urlacher was forced to sell his hardware store, prompting him to leave the community for about four years.
When he returned to Barrhead, he took a job with Sunnyside Realty, working at their Westlock office for a year before he joined Ward at Lane's Drug Store.
"He was with us for four or five years, then he decided, for the sake of our friendship, it might be better if he moved on," he said.
That was how Urlacher joined the Barrhead Leader as sales manager in the winter of 1990.
Former Barrhead Leader publisher Al Blackmere said it was very fortunate that Jerry was looking for a career change while the newspaper was looking for a new sales manager.
"I had known Jerry for a long time as he had been a fixture in Barrhead's business community, so when the position became available, I knew he would be the perfect person for the job," he said. "What made Jerry such a good salesman was that everyone felt they could talk to him about anything."
Blackmere also recalled that Urlacher was an avid golfer, and one of his favourite events was the Town & Country annual golf tournament.
"We would rent a bus and play in the community tournament starting in Athabasca and going to Westlock and Barrhead, playing nine holes at each golf course," he said.
Carol Farnalls, who became publisher after Blackmere retired, agreed with her former boss.
"Jerry was, hands down, the most easygoing person I ever worked with during my 30-plus years at the paper. Not only was he a pleasure to work with," she said. "He excelled at his work and was a valuable asset not only to the Leader but to the team. More importantly, he had a lot of fun doing so."
A celebration of life will be held on June 26 at the Rose Garden Chapel at 1 p.m. Instead of flowers, the family is asking people to donate to the Barrhead Healthcare Centre Auxiliary.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
