\t\t\tHon. Gerard J. Kettmann \t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tOBITUARY\t\t<\/p>\n
The Honorable Gerard J. Kettmann (\u201cJerry\u201d) passed away peacefully on May 7, 2026, at the age of 99. A proud lifelong resident of San Jose, Jerry was born at the old O\u2019Connor Hospital at the corner of West San Carlos Street and Race Street. His life began on the Kettmann ranch in the Evergreen region of San Jose. He attended Evergreen Grammar School located on San Felipe Road, on land partially donated by the Kettmann family, followed by Roosevelt Junior High School, and later San Jose High School.<\/p>\n
Jerry remained deeply connected to the Evergreen community throughout his long life. In retirement, he compiled an in-depth Kettmann family history, tracing the family\u2019s German origins, documenting their arrival in the region in the mid-1800s and continuing through to today\u2019s extensive family tree.<\/p>\n
On November 8, 1944, Jerry joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific aboard the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Wasp CV-18 before being honorably discharged on June 21, 1946, with the rank of Water Tender Third Class. He was one of the last surviving World War II Navy veterans.<\/p>\n
In 1949, Jerry met the love of his life, Nancy Riveroll, beginning a devoted partnership that would span more than seven decades. They were married in 1950 in the chapel at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in Carmel and this year celebrated their 76th wedding anniversary. Together they built a loving family, raising five children: Jan, Greg, Jeff, Dave, and Steve \u2014 they were seven. <\/p>\n
Jerry graduated with honors from San Jose State College, now SJSU, in 1952 and earned his law degree in 1955 from the Boalt School of Law at UC Berkeley. In 1967 he was appointed Municipal Court Judge, beginning a distinguished career of more than 40 years serving California.<\/p>\n
Together Jerry and Nancy traveled the world, creating lifelong memories and sharing countless adventures. Hawaii was always their favorite destination, to say the least. Jerry and Nancy also shared a love of golf, especially during their many trips to Hawaii.<\/p>\n
Jerry and Nancy took great pride in their growing family, which now includes 15 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild. They organized milestone reunions to places like Hawaii, Oregon, and the Sierra Nevada so the generations could gather, socialize, and stay connected.<\/p>\n
Jerry was always incredibly supportive of all his kids\u2019 sports and hobbies. He loved being involved in the things they cared about and was always there to generously support their passions. He will be remembered for his quiet strength, loving character, dedication to family and friends, and a life well lived. He will be greatly missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hon. Gerard J. Kettmann OBITUARY The Honorable Gerard J. Kettmann (\u201cJerry\u201d) passed away peacefully on May 7, 2026,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-338076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}