Daddy, One Year

Gerald A. Van Amburgh “Jerry Vance”

Born August 25, 1934, Died May 17, 2022

It’s been one year, which does not seem possible, since I held my Daddy in my arms as he died. I tried to read this at his graveside but I could not get the words out. Even now it is so hard to read them.

My dear Father was born in Niles, Ohio in 1934. His Mother, Beulah McFadden, and Gerald A Van Amburgh moved to California in 1939. My Grandparents sent my Father to Military boarding school upon arrival. He became an expert equestrian, marksman, and infantryman thus beginning a lifelong love of horses with a brilliant equestrian aptitude and a love for the military. He went to Jordan High School in Long Beach, California in his teen years. There he met my mother Marlene E. Basham and they were married in 1954. My Father joined the United States Army and served honorably during the Korean War. He was injured while tending a wounded Chinese soldier and later captured and tortured by the enemy. He served with the Airborne Regimental Combat Team, Unit 11 as a Combat Medic. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Senior Jump Wings, Senior Combat Medic Badge, and Second Award. He was a very proud soldier, prouder still to represent the United States of America. Upon returning to the States with my Mother (pregnant with me) he became a Hollywood Stuntman. A very good friend suggested he change his name. This friend was John Wayne, he was quick to let him know Van Amburgh was too long and complicated for the Hollywood crowd! So he said how about “Jerry Vance”. And the name stuck! Dad did most of the dangerous horse, wagon, and stagecoach stunts, and stunt coordination for the Duke’s pictures. He was also the stunt driver for Bruce Lee in the Green Hornet series. He choreographed and doubled the leads in the original Batman TV series and doubled for Don Adams in Get Smart. He was Don Knotts double and his security detail always. One of my favorites, he worked on all of the group scenes, around the campfire, on horseback, dancing backstage through water, and crashing through the buildings in History of the World, part 2 for Mel Brooks. There are too many to mention here but I had to mention some of his favorites. Being a Stuntman wasn’t just what he did, it was most certainly who he was. For the last 15 years or so I have been privileged and honored to live with Daddy and he told me many stories about his days in the “Picture business”. Some of the young “punks” he worked with, ones he had to teach to fight/fall, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and one he taught to drive, he was still sad about this young man, gone too soon, James Dean. I must also mention Dick Warlock, a great stuntman in his own right. Dick doubled Kurt Russell and doubled Michael Myers in the Halloween series just to name a few. They were lifelong best friends. But in the end, Daddy just didn’t want to see anyone. He wanted all of his old friends and relatives to remember him like he was not like he became, especially Dick. My Father was my best friend, my mentor, my confidant, my solver of all the world’s problems, my dance partner, and all of you who know him for more than 30 seconds knew, he never met a stranger! He was selfless to a fault. He is survived by myself, Carrie I Van Amburgh, my partner JD Humberson, my brother and his wife John and Susan Van Amburgh, and their sons; Evi (Cody) Van Amburgh and Vance Van Amburgh; one of his dearest friends Ric S. Duff, My Daughter and her husband Caitria and Aaron Haber; My Son and is Wife Michael and Mandy Cogan and their three children, (Daddy’s great-grandchildren), Sean, David and Anna Cogan; Aunt Rae-Ann LaRue, Cousins, Jane LaRue, and her husband Marv, and her sister and brother, Christie, and Danny. As well as the hundreds of children and adults who called him Uncle Jerry. To my mind there will never be a better man, no one as handsome, charming, kind, or generous as my Daddy. No one had a better hug or was more generous of heart. Fly high with the angels now, please keep helping me garden and pulling weeds so I don’t fall down the hill Daddy. Hug Momma, Hug Uncle Lee, Hug Gramma, Hug them all for us. We will all see you again one day. We will love you each and every day until then. I miss you, Daddy.      

Love Comes in All Sizes!