AIME ALBERT GEHRI 

Aime went to be with our Lord Jesus Christ on June 23rd, 2018. He died peacefully in his home with his wife Marile and daughter Heide at his sides.

Funeral Services will be on July 21st, 2018 at 6 PM in Lord of Life Lutheran church located at 640 N. Columbia Center Blvd. Kennewick, WA. 99336

Aime was the second son of three; born in St. Imier, Switzerland to Henriette and Albert Gehri on January 7th, 1926, and was 92 yrs. old at his passing. He had a wonderful childhood skiing in the Alps with his friends and working at the watch factory with his father and younger brother.  He graduated High School at 16 and then went onto State college to earn his Bachelors in Tool and Die Engineering.  Not quite satisfied he entered the Swiss Telephone Administration and earned another degree.  Aime knew he was destined to do more and had a thirst for knowledge.  So in 1951, he immigrated to Canada and began his work in Aero Space engineering.  There he applied for U.S. Citizenship.  

He was granted entry in early 1952 and set about working and signing up for Naturalization classes.  It was in this class that he found he was always turning around to look at a very beautiful woman about his age.  One evening he mustered the courage to open the door for her following class and politely asked her, "You, Me, Coffee?" in his best English.  They walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant and were promptly 'kicked out' as the Chinese do not serve Coffee. He was so happy to contact his parents and tell them the wonderful news.  His father perplexed stated, "You went all the way to America to find a German girl to marry? Son, don't you know they are right across the border here!"   By November 14th, 1953 he had made her his bride, and would have celebrated their 65th Anniversary this fall.  She will always be his, "Petit Chou".

Aime owned his own Tool and Die business on Long Island for a while, focusing on Aviation and Flight Instrumentation.  He was soon offered a position with IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1962.  There Aime built the first of two homes for his small family.  Just as this home was nearing its completion, GE in Boston, MA was interested in his skillset and offered him a position as Head of Staff Engineer in the Advanced Manufacturing Division of Flight Instrumentation.  Now a confident home builder as well, he built their second home in Beverly, MA.  Both homes still stand proudly! 

A few years later Aime gave a heartfelt, "Thank you and I wish you well in your new job!" to his big boss at GE who was leaving to become the CEO of a company in Seattle, WA yet to be revealed to anyone.  He said, "Thank you my friend, I 'WILL' be in touch with you soon again.”  About one year later he did hear from Paul who asked him to come out and assess a new area that Exxon was branching into The Nuclear field.  He was offered a position in Fuel Fabrication that would allow him to really stretch his wings, and he was both nervous and excited. In the following years he was asked to relocate to Exxon's new facility in Lingen, Germany and headed up the Advanced Fuel Research and Development division.  With Exxon Aime holds several U.S. Patents on machinery which has streamlined the production of Fuel rod fabrication, and are still in use today! 

Once back in the U.S. Aime continued with Exxon for a few more years before retiring in 1986.  Oh but he didn't 'actually' retire.  Since arriving in WA State in 1971, and all through his years with Exxon, he was very involved with J.M. Perry Trade institute in Yakima, WA.  He served on the Board of Directors, aided the school in obtaining donated equipment from Exxon; as well as he mentored and worked with individual young people he felt had the trade skill levels he sought to bring onboard with him at Exxon. Upon his retirement in '86, he was excited to pass on his knowledge to the younger generation.  He accepted a teaching position at his beloved school and began to impart his knowledge.  Unfortunately his teaching days were short lived as his salary became known to some of the other faculty. 

Now, still not ready to slow down Aime decided to obtain his Consulting License.  He hired out a few jobs and then one ended up requesting that he come on staff.  For the last 15 yrs. of his working career Aime was Head Staff Engineer and then Vice President of Engineering at Kwik Lok Corporation in Yakima, WA.  True to his skillset Aime holds yet another machine patent for high-speed printing on Lok segments.  He finally gave up working in 2000 at the age of 74! 

Over the years his personal interests included Radio Controlled model gliders of which Aime designed a winching system to pull his planes up, up and high into the air before he began making new friends who shared his love of flying.  Because of his love of aviation; he was also involved in attempting to privately patent a balloon type device that would be on board all aircraft, and would deploy upon impact.  This may still be in the works, so keep your eyes open!

Aime was an active member and served on the boards of all the churches they attended, Peace Lutheran in Beverly, MA, Good Shepherd Lutheran in Richland, WA, Christ Lutheran in Yakima, WA and Nazarene church in Yakima, WA.   When they sold their home in Yakima in 2005 to move into a Condominium complex at Carriage Hills Senior Community Aime served on the board there for a period as well.  In his retirement was Aime idle, of course not!! He made himself happy keeping his hands busy with his model gliders, and 'built from the ground up with his lathe' a working "steam engine", as well as other assorted widgets and gadgets.

Finally, in 2013 when their daughter, moved back to the Tri-Cities, everyone moved in together, and it was there that he was hospiced after a brief illness, and went onto be with our Lord and Savior.

Aime leaves behind his beautiful wife, Marile of 65+ yrs. - 92 herself - but three weeks older (she often chides), his only child and daughter Heide, one sister-in-law Rosa Betz, three nephews, Robert Kupp, Philip Gehri and his wife Manuela, Michael Betz, Terrence and Timothy McLaughlin and two nieces Josette Gehri, Claude (Gehri) Fontes [Goddaughter respectively], another Goddaughter Nancy (McLaughlin) Henry and great nieces and nephews. 

He is preceded in death by his father Albert in 1955, his mother Henriette in 1973, Emile - oldest and first born son died at birth and his younger brother Claude along with his wife Paulette.