Jerry Lee Alexus

Jerry Lee Alexus

Jerry Lee Alexus, was born January 22, 1950, in Des Moines, Iowa, and departed this life in Brighton, Colorado, July 10, 2025, following a sudden illness.

Jerry grew up in Iowa and Denver, visiting his extended family on the farm most summers after moving to Denver with his parents in early elementary school.  Jerry graduated from Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Co, in 1968 and joined the US Army, and served his tour in Viet Nam as a helicopter pilot for the Razorback Armed Helicopters. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.  Jerry was proud of his service and is survived by his 2 crew members and beloved friends, Ray Klaver, crew chief, and Eddie Trammel, door gunner, as well as a host of Viet Nam vets with whom they served. In recent years Jerry enjoyed attending reunions with his fellow veterans, whom he called his brothers.

When he returned from Viet Nam in the early 1970’s, Jerry married and had 2 children, Courtney and Aaron.  The family lived in Denver, then back in Iowa.  When the children were college age, Jerry returned to Denver, and they soon followed.  Jerry met Diane Baird and Lukas in 1995. The three moved to a little farm near Hudson in 2001, acquiring various horses and dogs along the way.  Over the next years two grandchildren from Aaron, David and Savannah, and two from Courtney, Tyhan and MacKenzie, brought joy, pride and laughter.  2 great grandchildren in the past few years have sweetened the mix.

Jerry’s interests and talents were expansive. Early in his adulthood Jerry raced motorcycles and cultivated his love of cars., owning several collector’s autos throughout the years. He was a creative and talented homebuilder and carpenter, and these skills earned his living for most of his adult life.  Jerry’s love of farming, vehicles and mechanics, and especially of horses, shaped his home life over the last 30 years in Golden, Hudson and Brighton with Diane and son Lukas. Luke, like his dad, has a knack for vehicles and mechanics; they were looking at motorcycles together the weekend before Jerry’s hospitalization.

Jerry loved the outdoors and restored a friend’s 1960’s cabin outside of Fraser, where we spent as much time as we could with family and friends.  Jerry was an experienced and elegant fly fisherman, in mountain streams or Belizian ocean flats.

Jerry will be greatly missed by the people he loved and who loved him.  He would enjoy getting together with friends and family to share memories, and good food and drink, without fanfare or ceremony--just laughs, a little music, and friendships. 

On Saturday, September 6, we will celebrate Jerry. We’ll be on the patio at La Estrellita in Brighton, from 11 AM to 3 PM--where our family and friends have gathered with us for 25 years.  Please join us for a little while, or a little while longer, and bring your memories and stories. We’ll provide eats and drinks and Jerry’s favorite music.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jerry Lee Alexus, please visit our floral store.