Gerald Frey

Gerald "Butch" Eugene Frey was born to William and Goldie (Erwin) Frey on Nov. 3, 1938, on a farm northeast of Guide Rock, Nebraska. He died at Mary Lanning Hospital on Dec. 25, 2022 at 84 years of age.

A lifelong member of the Guide Rock community, Butch graduated from Guide Rock High School in 1956. After graduation, he took on a variety of trades and performed many jobs throughout his life. His skills ranged from a farm hand, meat cutter and clerk at the grocery store, combine operator and owning his own tree trimming and junking business. Butch was employed at the Guide Rock Farmer's Union elevator for nearly 30 years and worked as a mill hand, tank wagon operator, assistant manager, and floater operator.

Butch supported the area as a member of the Guide Rock Volunteer Fire Department and local business owner. He was an avid outdoorsman, could fix anything, created wonderful woodcrafts and was fiercely independent. Butch was a quiet man with a quick wit. Butch would often be seen driving his 1978 grey Ford truck...except the door, it was from 1979. He was the type of man that would give you the shirt off his back if you needed help and was a loving son, father, husband, and grandfather.

Butch is preceded in death by his parents, William and Goldie Frey; and brother, George Frey.

Left to treasure his memory are his wife, Charlotte Frey of Guide Rock; son, Kelly Frey of Guide Rock; daughter, Angela Montgomery and husband, Scot, of Cheyenne, Wyoming; Kelly and Angela's mother, Sharon Frey of Salina, Kansas; grandchildren, Samuel Montgomery, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Cassidy Frey of Broken Bow, Nebraska; step-children, Susan Heien and husband, Troy, of Laramie, Wyoming, Gary Glass and wife, Akemi, of Torrington, Wyoming, William Glass and wife, Tracy, of Bozeman, Montana; step-grandchildren, Joshua Heien, Michael Heien, Kaleb Heien, Jacob Heien, Benjamin Heien, Emi Glass, and Sera Glass; sisters-in-law, Eileen Frey and Pat Frey; nephew and niece, Gary Frey and Connie Walter, and their families, many great-grandchildren, as well as a host of friends.

A private graveside service will be held for immediate family at the Guide Rock cemetery on Saturday, Jan. 7. Friends and extended family are invited to the Fellowship Hall in the Guide Rock United Methodist Church between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. on the same day to share memories and celebrate Butch's life.

Williams Funeral Home in Red Cloud is in charge of the service arrangements.

Memorials can be sent in remembrance of Butch to the Guide Rock Volunteer Fire Department, c/o Ely Grain, P.O. Box 185, Guide Rock, Nebraska, 68942.