Gerald Leland Strope

Born in the rural village of Orchard, Nebraska, Gerald was the older of two children. Known as Jerry Lee as a child, he grew up on the family farm. After High School, he continued farming and driving a truck for a few years before he was encouraged to attend college. Feeling a calling to care for underprivileged children, and excelling at math and the sciences, he went to medical school and eventually took the path of Pediatric Pulmonology. He was well matched to this path because of his love of working with children who had challenging health issues and because he loved tinkering with the machines on which many of his patients depended.

Dr. Strope, Jerry, moved from medical school in Rochester, NC, to residency and fellowship then a faculty position at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, VA, to Mission Memorial Hospital in Asheville, NC, and finally to East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine, where he served last Chairman of the Pediatric Pulmonology Division. He retired in 2012.

In retirement Jerry and his wife lived in Pittsboro, NC, then moved to Las Vegas to be near his son. In 2022, following a diagnosis of Myelodysplasia, they returned to Chapel Hill to be closer to trusted medical care. Early in 2024, after a couple stints in the hospital, his disease progressed into Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He lived six more months before succumbing to the cancer.

Jerry was preceded in death by his parents Vernon Lyle Sr. and Teletha Strope, his bother, Vernon Lyle Strope, Jr, and Vernon Lyle’s younger daughter Heather.

He is survived by his wife Christine Clark; his ex-wife Julia Strope; his daughter Leandra and granddaughter Pasha; his son Leuwellyn, daughter-in-law Lisa Duke, and granddaughters Maya and Eleanor; his sister-in-law Estelene; his niece Rachelle, his nephew Todd, and their many children and grandchildren, as well as Heather’s children and grandchildren; his double cousins Roger and Dale with whom he grew up. He has always valued his life-long close relationships with family members and friends across the United States.

Dr. Strope’s funeral will be held on Saturday, August 17, at 2:00 pm, at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, 204 W Salisbury Street, Pittsboro, NC. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to CORA Food Pantry, 40 Camp Dr., P.O. Box 1326, Pittsboro, NC 27312, or to a charity of your choice.

Donaldson Funeral Home & Crematory is honored to serve the Strope family.