Gerald Dean Fasbender Obituary (1926 - 2023)

Gerald Dean Fasbender, age 96, died peacefully on March 10, 2023, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Gerald was born October 20, 1926, to Katherine Coral Zieske and Corvin Elmer Fasbender in Waubun, Minnesota. Gerald married Belle Meldrum on December 9, 1946, in the Salt Lake L.D.S. Temple. They were blessed with two adopted sons, Jim Wayne Fasbender and then Mark Alan Fasbender. Following Belle’s passing on August 1, 2007, he married Maria Angela Rivera in December 2007 (stepdaughter, Jennifer Rivera), who passed away in July 2019. Growing up in the depression era, Gerald’s parents moved the family many times and into many different homes – from Minnesota to North Dakota, then Wyoming, Idaho and then Washington. In 1942 in the latter part of his freshman year they’d moved to a 40-acre stump ranch near Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, where he worked after school and Saturdays at the Safeway store. Before the school year was out, all male employees there except the manager had been drafted, ensuring him full-time employment for the summer where his earnings for most of the summer was the only income the family had. That fall his dad was away working and they moved closer to town where they had both electricity and indoor plumbing. In the summer of 1943 they moved to Spokane, Washington, where he worked while for a dairy and then back to Safeway. In fall, at nearly seventeen, back in school and working, he wanted to enlist, noting his three brothers were all in the service. Finally, after Christmas, his mother gave in to his pleadings and gave her consent. Gerald joined the U. S. Coast Guard serving aboard the USS Wakefield AP 21, a troop transport, hauling troops to Europe and bringing back wounded servicemen and German prisoners of war. He enjoyed the duty and almost reenlisted, but anxious to get home he became a civilian in June 1946. Not long after, he met Belle, and they married in December. Gerald attended business college for a year and worked at several different jobs but couldn't settle down to any one thing, so he enlisted in the army through January 1950; then he enlisted in the Army Reserve. He had a good job with Consolidated Freightways, but the Korean war broke out and he was called back to active duty. He spent most of 1951 in Korea. Upon arrival back from Korea he returned to work at Consolidated Freightways and then tried several different jobs, finally as a member of the U.S. Border Patrol. He was stationed in El Paso, Texas, then went to Laredo, Texas, as an immigration inspector, and then to Fairbanks, Alaska, in the same position. From there to Brownsville, Texas, as a Senior Patrol Inspector. He went back to being an immigration Inspector at Brownsville, and from there was promoted to Immigration Examiner. Later he was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah, in the same position. While at Salt Lake City, he was promoted to the position of Officer in Charge (covering four states) with Immigration and Naturalization where, after 30 years of total federal service with the DOJ, he retired in 1981. He was a convert member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and served in many church callings. After retiring, he and Belle served two missions for their church in different Mexico Missions where during the second one they finished the last six months at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. He later served in the Boise Temple as a temple worker. Gerald was preceded in death by his wife, Belle Meldrum Fasbender, and Angie Rivera Fasbender, parents Katherine Coral Zieske and Corvin Elmer Fasbender, and brothers Donald Corvin and John Alfred Fasbender. He is survived by his older brother Warren Robert Fasbender of Spokane, WA, sons Jim Wayne Fasbender of Tremonton, UT, and Mark Alan Fasbender (Renee) of Salt Lake City, UT, and twin granddaughters Jennifer and Lindsay Fasbender (great granddaughter Lily), and stepdaughter Jennifer Rivera. The family wishes to thank the friends and caregivers at Highland Cove Assisted Living. A graveside service was held March 20, 2023, Rosedale Memorial Cemetery, Payette, Idaho.