Gerald Unruh

Gerald 'Gerry' Anthony Unruh, 76, of Billings died Sept. 25, 2024.

He was born Aug. 20, 1948, in Glendale to Anthony and Frieda (Schmidt) Unruh. He grew up on the family farm in Bloomfield, the youngest of five brothers and four sisters. Hey had a fun childhood creating all kinds of mischief to keep his parents and sisters on their toes. He attended school in both Richey and Glendive, where he became an outstanding athlete, especially in football, basketball and track. Football took him to Bethel College in Newton, Kansas, but a broken back his freshman year made him rethink his plans. If he couldn't play football, he was out of there.

He was a force, larger than life with a big personality. He was someone who took chances and lived at full-throttle. His post-college plan included roaring up to his niece's house on his Ducati motorcycle and racing top-fuel dragsters until he decided to move back to Billings to try his hand at raising race horses. He loved to see his work explode out of the racing chute.

Then he took another leap, a blind date set up by friends, where he met Michal Evitt, and they were married six months later. Two years following, their daughter Danielle was born. In subsequent years, his fearless ambition took the family to Wyoming, Louisiana and back again to Montana. Throughout it all, he showed a fierce determination to provide for his family and demonstrated ingenuity in doing that. He believed failures are risks that go untaken (and sometimes failures themselves need to be taken) and he never shied away from taking risks in pursuit of a better life. Sometimes the risks ended in triumph and other times in epic disasters. However, he also maintained an unwavering belief that hard work, continued problem solving, and a 'head on straight' were the