Jerome Griggs Beery

Jerry Beery of Los Alamos, NM died peacefully at home on June 6, 2025, following sudden organ failure. He was one of seven children born to Gene Beery Sr. and Minerva Griggs Beery. Jerry was raised in Colby, Kansas.

Upon completion of high school, Jerry joined the Army and served in the 9th Ordnance Battalion, the first Army nuclear ordnance battalion which was formed in 1953 at Sandia Base in Albuquerque. He was stationed in Pirmasens, Germany, part of the French occupied zone.

Following his service in the Army, Jerry attended Kansas State University where he received his B.S. in Nuclear Engineering. Later, while employed at Los Alamos National Laboratories, he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from the University of New Mexico.

Jerry went to work at the Labs in 1959 and spent most of his career as an experimental physicist, first in Low-Energy Physics and then in Astrophysics.

Jerry taught Astrophysics at the University of Hawaii during the year he and his family spent there. At the time, he also conducted research at the telescope on the Big Island.

Jerry taught a variety of courses at Colby Community College, including Physics and Oceanography and taught in the Electronics program at UNM-LA. He also taught various training courses at the labs.

Jerry and his wife Joyce moved to Los Alamos and joined the First United Methodist Church in 1959. They both sang in the church choir from 1959 until 2018. During the early years at the church, they taught Sunday School and sponsored the Methodist Youth Fellowship.

In private life, he was a builder. Over the years, he built 6 houses in Los Alamos, five for the family and one for the Naffziger family. Jerry loved the Southwest and took a number of hiking and camping trips to the Grand Canyon over the years as well as houseboat trips to Lake Powell with family and friends.

In the last three years, he wrote and published three historical novels. Jerry is survived by his wife of 71 years, Joyce Kear Beery, and his children, Tom, Rick and Sandy, all of New Mexico.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, June 13, 2025, at 2:00pm at the First United Methodist Church, 715 Diamond Drive, Los Alamos, NM.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service, 109 East Central Park Square, Los Alamos, NM 87544, or online at https://lavns.comor LA Cares, NM online at https://www.lacaresnm.org