Memorial visitation for Jerry Cairns will be held on Thursday, March 20, 2014 from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 201 N. Northwest Highway, Palatine, IL 60067. Memorial Services will be held Friday, March 21, 2014 at the First United Methodist Church of Palatine, 123 N. Plum Grove Road, Palatine. The Reverend Michael Morris will officiate. Interment will be private. Jerry was born on September 20, 1933, in Des Moines, IA, the son of the late Edwin Charles "Ted" and Ellie Bernice "Bee" (nee Balderson) Cairns. He passed away on Sunday, March 16, 2014 at the Silverado Senior Living in Lake Zurich. Jerry developed his love of sports at Shenandoah, IA High School where he graduated in 1951. After attending Iowa State University on an athletic scholarship, an injury forced him to quit basketball. He then attended the University of Nebraska, was in the U.S. Army as a "recreational specialist" in 1957, and finished his B.S. in Ed. In 1960. He completed his Master's in 1964. Due to self-financing his education, he held over 30 jobs, including being a "sanitary engineer" (inspecting swimming pools). His professional career began in St. Louis, MO, as a guidance counselor in 1961 at Cleveland High School. In 1965, he moved to Palatine-Schaumburg Dist. 211 to be Student services Director at Wm. Fremd and Hoffman Estates High Schools until his retirement in 1992. His hobbies were "Big Red" football, travel, golf, bridge, reading, singing, bird-watching and playing with his grandchildren. Jerry is survived by his wife of 51 years, Nancy Lee (nee Beal) Cairns of Palatine, his daughters, Mary Ellen (Stephen) Bunta, Longmont, CO and Emily (Thomas) Kunschke, Lake Zurich; his grandchildren, Finnian and Liam Bunta, Kalyn and Cassie Kunschke; his brother Charles (Bonnie) Cairns of Santa Barbara, CA and sister-in-law Helen (John) Vanderveen of Bartlesville, OK and extended family and friends. In lieu of flowers, memorials would be appreciated in his memory to the First United Methodist Church of Palatine, 123 N. Plum Grove Road, Palatine, IL 60067, the Alzheimer's Association , 8430 W. Bryn Mawr, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60631 or the Audubon Society. For information, call the Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, Palatine, at 847-358-7411 or visit www.ahlgrimffs.com

Published in Chicago Suburban Daily Herald on Mar. 18, 2014