The “Bird” Flies High

by | Jul 1, 2019

Me on the right holding Jay

For me this is probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to write. Yes, we go through life and experience all the ups and downs, and of course all those things that go sideways, but we rarely have enough time to reflect upon what it all means. And yes, I am going to wax philosophical for a bit, because I feel like it and I think I am entitled to it at this point.

A month ago, I lost someone in my life who meant a lot to me, in four different ways; he was my youngest brother, he was my best friend, he was my business partner, and he was a kindred spirit. And he had many family members, good friends, and relationships that seemed to span way beyond the 52 years he spent on this planet.

Jay on back of my motorcycle

I remember pretty clearly when he was born, as it was the summer before I was getting ready to enter high school. And I was a little nervous entering a brand new school, since we had just moved. Jay came as the last of seven in our family, as I was the first. We were the bookends of the Deal crew. And yes, being the oldest it was almost a cliché that I wound up babysitting him at times.

Us Seven Siblings with Mom – Me & Jay on Left

Jay was still pretty small when I went off to college and then made a life for myself over the years. So I never really saw him grow up and was around less than my other siblings. Over the years we each went our own ways and I never saw him that much.

Until one day in late 2009, I realized I needed someone with his expertise to work with me in a film company I had formed. By spring 2010 he was working fulltime for us, and making his mark with the company and our projects. He was in charge of all our online and social media activities, and eventually all our marketing, and beyond that became a producer on our last film project.

Jay & I at Monaco Film Festival

Over those nine years of working together we got to know each other pretty well, and learned to work together in amazing harmony. Oftentimes I would start a sentence and he would finish it, and vice versa. It almost seemed like we could read each other’s minds. It sure made our work more efficient. His creative spirit and technological wizardry will be sorely missed.

Jay’s family

So how can you wrap up a person’s life with a few paragraphs? Of course, you never ever really can. The effect of their lives can be felt by the influences that person had on them. And Jay, with his upbeat, humorous, obliging, and outgoing personality, had quite the influence, felt by many more people than I or anyone ever knew about. So yes, fly Jay-bird fly, fly high … onward and upward to your next life and your next adventure!

JAD

Jerry Alden Deal

Jerry Alden Deal

Writer - Director - Producer

Over the past thirty-five years Jerry has been hired numerous times to develop and write screenplays for other production companies. During that same period several of his spec scripts were also optioned. In 2007 ‘Dreams Awake,’ shot in the Mt. Shasta area, was Jerry’s feature directorial debut. He currently has several other projects in various stages of development. One of which, ‘The Inner Sonic Key,’ a documentary, is in the post-production queue, while another, ‘One Hand Clapping,’ wrapped production in Austin, TX in April of last year (2018) and is currently in post-production. Two other projects are also on the horizon; ‘Patterns of Creation,’ an animated sci-fi adventure going through an extensive script rewrite, and ‘The God Dilemma’, an unorthodox courtroom drama, whose story is being fleshed out.

81 Comments

  1. Tom Lagleder
    Tom Lagleder on April 2, 2021 at 2:58 am

    Jerry, I hope you and Berry are well. I’m going back and looking at projects I’ve worked on in the past and came across this journal entry. I wish I had reached out sooner. I loved having Jay on that set. I found out about his passing in the Spring of 2020, Darla made contact with me to adopt some kittens that I’d posted on instagram. It had been a few months shy of being one year since Jay passed. I know he is missed greatly. It was nice connecting with Darla… I even got to see her in person, with our pandemic masks on of course. I wish you all my best and hope you have been able to move forward, with Jay watching over from the other side. He was, and is, a huge presence. Take care, Tom Lagleder

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