All About Pocket Knives

There are many very wonderful things about being a long-time member of AAPK. But there is an occasional downside as well. Today is one such day as I say goodbye to a long-time personal friend and a great friend of AAPK, Jerry Downen, aka: jerryd6818.
A few minutes ago, I received a call from Jerry's daughter. She told me Jerry had passed away about 3:00 AM this morning. He had been in the hospital and was then on Hospice care for a few days. Jerry was a very active member of AAPK for 15 years and contributed a great deal to AAPK in his 39,415 posts!
I know Jerry will be missed by a lot of you here on the forum. He had a very eclectic taste in knives, but he liked anything with the Marine Corps emblem on it, including one or two that I made for him.
Jerry, my friend, I miss you! I will miss our talks on the phone discussing knives, the Marine Corps, and baseball, esp. your beloved Cubbies. I'm glad you we're able to see them win the World Series! I will miss you my friend. May God bless you and keep you and may you rest in peace. Semper Fi my brother!

Shocking news. Jerry was a veteran member here when I joined AAPK, and welcomed me. We exchanged not only posts but also PMs and knives. He was a Cubs fan, me a Cardinals fan, resulting in good-natured back-and-forth “fun-poking”. I never met him face-to-face but still regarded Jerry a friend. So sad. R.I.P. “jerryd”.

Ken

Such sad news. Jerry and I worked at Amdahl (a mainframe manufacturer) in the 80’s and had many common friends. Jerry and I would talk every couple of weeks with the last of those conversations right before the holidays. He was tired and ready to be called home. Gone but never forgotten, rest easy my friend. Godspeed to his family.

I’m carrying a Camillus 72 this week in his honor and would encourage everyone who has one to do the same

You'll be missed, R.I.P. Jerry.

JerryD will be missed. He was a proud Marine and diehard Cubs fan. We had that in common along with growing up in Southern Illinois. I appreciated how helpful JerryD was, usually without being asked, in sharing tips and techniques to get the most out of the AAPK forum. He also had a fondness for effective gadgets and I ended up buying several of them. I'm going to spend some time looking back at his posts.

Sincere condolences to Jerry'D's family and AAPK friends.

Jerry will be missed by me also. I engaged with him a lot in my early years on AAPK, he was a moderator and very active on most threads. You could tell he was proud of being a Marine and proud of his knives, to name a few things. Godspeed Jerry.

Oh man....although not entirely surprising, jerryd had been rapidly "slowing down" for about the past two years, this still feels like a gut punch. Jerry was responsible for introducing me to the forum in 2014 (we first connected when he sold me a knife on eBay) and bringing me into the AAPK family. We shared a love for the Mini Trapper pattern and he encouraged me to start the Ode To The 07 thread and was an ardent supporter and contributor to The Mini TrapPER DIEM thread. Over the years we shared many knives and a lot of friendly back and forth banter; he had a quick wit and a seemingly endless supply of entertaining aphorisms. JerryD was one of the great ones, loved and respected by all. I considered him a dear friend and will miss him terribly.

Sad announcement indeed. Jerry was a good guy and although he lived in the same state that I live in, we never met in person. Had several PM conversations with him over the years. In one of those conversations, Jerry asked for my address so he could gift me a knife. He also asked that I never tell anybody who gave it to me. Jerry didn't want any recognition for it.

I post that knife occasionally but I have always honored his request. Something tells me that I’m not the only one.

Rest in peace, Jerry. You will be missed.

This is a big loss for our community. I was on the receiving end of the POS exchange a few years ago from Jerry and I have a 72 that he included. Condolences to the family. May he RIP.

Edit, due to a faulty memory I was mistaken. After checking my records, the knife I received from Jerry was a long line #29 Camillus trapper, which I will carry for the next 7 days in memory of him.

Goodness sakes, these sad announcements are coming way too often for me!
By all the posts so far, everyone should be able to gather what a good friend he was.

We went off on one of our trips one summer and was able to hit the Webster flea market down in Sumpter County Florida. I picked up an old raggedy Camillus 72, it had a broken pen blade if I remember correctly. I proudly posted a picture of it and some other knives we had picked up. A few weeks later I received this in the mail: Jerry and I discussed the Corps and differed in opinions on Dukes Mayonnaise and MiricaleWhip. He even sent me a knife advertising MiricaleWhip. We had been on the island of Viegas at almost the same time back in the old Corps.
RIP Corporal Jerry Downen.
Treefarmer

Godspeed sir.

This is sad indeed. I noticed he hadn't posted much in a while and often wondered about him. I will miss his contribution to the forums. If I recall he had said the Camillus 72 was the perfect knife. I'll have him in mind when I see one.

The Camillus 29 long line trapper I received from Jerry in March 2022.

When l had made an off topic post on belt buckles, he sent me a USN buckle and said he forgave me for not being a Marine! God bless & keep you amigo and l'll see ya on the other side!

Very sad news indeed. Jerry was one of those who welcomed me to this forum back in 2012. Like others here, I think of Jerry whenever I see a Camillus 72. I noticed that he had really cut back on his posting.

RIP, Jerry.

Thanks for letting us know Dale.

Condolences to the family, RIP Jerry.

Godspeed JerryD and thank you for your service to our country.

I never met Jerry in person but we did communicate by posting. I would send him things and he would send me things. Knives and baseball stuff.

I will miss him posting.

Go Cubbies!!

His last post was on December 25 to wish us all a Merry Christmas.

Always sad to hear another AAPK member has passed. Condolences and prayers for his family and friends.
R.I.P. JerryD!

Will be sadly missed, was a active and great contributor to AAPK. Thoughts with the family.

RIP my friend

I'm so sorry to hear this sad news.
I Hadn't seen him on the forum in some time.
I always enjoyed his posts. Usually humorous or informative.

My condolences go out to his family and friends.

Rest In Peace, Jerry. Thanks for helping me with the 72.

God Bless.

Jerry welcomed me to AAPK when I joined and sent me a handheld lighted magnifier to help me with hard to read knife stamps. When I started posting on the First Cup Diner, Jerry added the little carpenter to my posts that identify me and said if I didn't like it that I could remove it, but I loved it and appreciated his kindness and because of this kind gesture, I think of him when I post stuff. I have made a number of good friends on this site even without ever meeting them in person, and that sure included Jerry.____Dave

Years ago with one of our POS round tables, Jerryd had received this LF&C. I commented how I liked it, you know the rest. I had glennbad knock it down to one blade. Will have this one with me using for the next week.

Wow, this is tough news. A very gracious friend, answered a ton of questions for me and gently gave correction on some things. Totally infected me with the 72 bug. We exchanged a couple. A good friend.