In Memoriam: Gerald V. Upholt

Gerald V. Upholt was born on 5 April 1912. He graduated from U.C.L.A. in 1937 with a B.S. degree in Subtropical Horticulture. After a 25-year career, he retired from the Imperial-Yuma Production Credit Association, an organization that provided credit to farmers in the Imperial Valley of California. He was an avid bicyclist and backpack camper, hiking in mountains in the U.S. and Mexico. He and his wife were both interested in the Peace Corps, and he joined India-80 (Village Level Food Production) in 1969 after his wife died. He worked in a village not far from Kumbakonam in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu, where India-80 was involved with the Intensive Agriculture District Program (IADP), largely funded by the Ford Foundation. After completing his service in 1971, he became a United Nations Volunteer working near Jiroft in Kerman Province of southeastern Iran, a very hot, dry region that somewhat resembled the Imperial Valley climatologically. 

Despite being his late 50's while being a Peace Corps Volunteer, Jerry proved himself at least equal to those of us in our 20s when going on long bicycle trips. Surprisingly, even though he had difficulty learning Tamil in India, he did achieve an ability to communicate in Farsi while in Iran. He took some vacations with other India-80 members, going to Sri Lanka, Kerala, and Kashmir and returned to India and traveled with another former I-80 member in India and Bangladesh, and later on in Japan and east and west coast areas of the USA. He was an inspiration to some of us who, having much less life experience than Jerry, thought that Peace Corps life was difficult. 

After his return to California from Iran, Jerry lived on a large plot of land with daughter Theresa, her husband Ron and their girls near Sebastopol, not far from Santa Rosa north of San Francisco. There he was the main agricultural and general advisor for the land and other things. He continued to be active with bicycling (he completed a 100 mile bicycle road race near Santa Rosa with an I-80 travel companion) and hiking and helping his two daughters (Gretchen and Theresa) and their families. When he was unable to help his daughters and family in the same manner, he retired to Santa Rosa, spending all his time with a female friend who shared his interests until his death at age 85 on 12 February 1998. 

Contributed by Dan Berkowitz and Jim Emery, former members of India-80 - Posted August 2011