Jerry Stocker’s post-retirement life as an expressive artist stands in stark distinction to his 31-year profession as a correctional officer with the California Division of Corrections.

“I’m a unique individual now. Whereas my work required following a strict set of security pointers and continually being alert and observant of harmful conditions, retirement has afforded me the chance to chill out,” he stated. “I’m not managed by these strict jail guidelines.”

The 68-year-old Sacramento native moved to San Rafael when he was 13. For the following six years, he lived on the grounds of San Quentin State Jail the place his dad was a printing teacher.

He initially aspired to be a dentist and was even accepted to the UC San Francisco Faculty of Dentistry however ended up incomes a bachelor’s in felony justice from Cal State East Bay as an alternative.

“Since I grew up in San Quentin housing, it appeared a simple transition to changing into a correctional officer,” he stated. “It paid nicely, $600 per thirty days for full-time work, which was rather a lot again then.”

Beginning his profession on the age of 21, Stocker steadily moved up via the ranks, from correctional officer to correctional sergeant, parole agent, correctional lieutenant, correctional counselor, correctional captain and facility captain, working at California services in Norco, Oakland, Jamestown and Sacramento.

As unusual as it could appear, he says his interactions with inmates and parolees is the one facet of his former profession he misses.

“Each inmate and parolee was completely different, and I handled them as they handled me. I by no means actually cared about their crime,” he stated. “I handled them equally. Many of the contacts had been optimistic and I loved resolving their issues.”

Stocker met and Kim met at a disco within the mid-70s. As they had been dancing and getting acquainted, every was surreptitiously interviewing the opposite with the intent of discovering a everlasting life associate.

“I suppose we bought the solutions we had been searching for since we every advised the pal we got here with we had been going to get married to one another,” he stated.

Forty-four years, one son, one daughter-in-law and one grandson later, he stated Kim continues to be his greatest pal and the best pleasure in his life.

Creating stained glass items

Being an artist was by no means on his radar whereas working in corrections. After a number of months of post-retirement leisure, although, he determined to deliberately hunt down an artwork type he would get pleasure from.

His solely earlier publicity had been throwing pots in his highschool ceramics class. This time round, he found stained glass and dove in headfirst, a lot to the delight of his spouse.

“Utilizing the basement in our dwelling as a workshop, I outfitted each doable window in that home with customized stained glass,” he stated. “It was actually stunning and personally satisfying.”

Kim Stocker describes them as custom-made to suit angular home windows above the traditional sq. home windows, making them actually distinctive.

“He made them with opaque glass in order that the setting solar wouldn’t blaze into our home,” she stated. “They would not match any of our common home windows now.”

One piece he made only for her was a four-by-four stained glass with French baroque curls and hanging fuchsias above nine-inch sq. water glass panels.

“Jerry put in it within the window above our massive soaking tub within the grasp lavatory. I adored that piece and needed to convey it with us after we moved,” she stated. “Sadly, it might have been troublesome to uninstall and wouldn’t have slot in any window in our new home.”

Starting his enterprise

In lieu of curtains, 5 of his customized stained-glass panels grasp within the home windows of their Cloverdale dwelling and a lamp with a stained-glass shade he made sits of their lounge. The couple moved right here in 2016.

Quickly after getting settled in, the Stockers invited their neighbor Mary Antonini to cease by for a go to.

“I used to be in awe of the attractive and distinctive items of artwork of their dwelling, and much more impressed to study they had been made by Jerry,” she stated. “My husband and I now have 5 items of his paintings. Every time I take a look at them I see one thing I hadn’t seen earlier than.”

Stocker found his present creative ardour within the artwork part of the general public library when he got here throughout a e-book entitled “Combined Media Mosaic” by Laurie Mika. Though his interpretation of combined media mosaics is completely different than hers, this was the inspiration for his newest creative endeavor.

It was additionally the start of his enterprise, “Fats Cats Artwork,” named in honor of Jennifer and Ashley, two fats cats the couple had on the time.

Stocker finds objects for his paintings at second hand shops, Goodwill, Salvation Military, swap meets, yard gross sales and bead reveals. For damaged and intact jewellery, in addition to different tokens, he visits on-line websites like eBay and Etsy.