Gerald Joseph Bechen, 72, of Whitman, Massachusetts departed Planet Earth on April 24, 2020 in Brockton, Massachusetts. Gerald was born to parents Harold and Ethel Bechen on October 28, 1947 in Dubuque, Iowa. He held the position of Senior Mechanical Engineer at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts and worked the nuclear industry for 35 years, retiring in 2010.
Gerald graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering after serving a term in the USMC, deploying to Vietnam. When he wasn’t analyzing pipe stress or casually recovering from life-threatening illnesses, Gerald could be found seated in front of his desktop computer accompanied by his (late) companion, Destiny, a cat with developmental delays who shared his loathing for causerie. Gerald would leave the comfort of his desk to enjoy eating egg breakfasts and sometimes share bratwurst sandwiches with his cat.
He dabbled in the arts of photography, drawing, painting, computer programming, gardening, and carpentry and spent a portion of his youth exploring Zen Buddhism with monks in New York before returning to the familiarity of a Roman Catholic Church at the Holy Ghost Parish in Whitman, Massachusetts. With a passion for mechanics and a farmhand adolescence, Gerald partook in John Deere and NASCAR fandom and found great pleasure in riding his trusty green-and-yellow lawn tractor throughout his Whitman Homestead, clad in pocketed t-shirts and cowboy hats.
Gerald leaves his four siblings, four children, four grandchildren, and his wife of 33 years, Carmela Bechen. A military memorial service will be observed at an undetermined later date.