Jerry Edward Drake was the ninth and last child of Robert Alonzo Drake and Clara Bronaugh Drake. When he was 14 months old, his mother died of influenza. The story my Aunt Elizabeth told me is that as a toddler he went room to room calling for his mother. Elizabeth gathered the brothers and sisters around and told them that with that big brood, there was no reason Jerry should ever have to call out for his mama again. They could make him so loved and distracted that it would fill up the void. The oldest sister Sara (aged 18) already had plans to marry, but Elizabeth (aged 16) put her plans on hold until her little brothers and sisters were old enough to manage for themselves.
Jerry's father died of a heart attack when Jerry was 10. His brothers and sisters helped raise him. Of the five brothers and four sisters, all but two received college educations. All four girls became teachers. The oldest brother Robert Nehemiah Drake was a World War I veteran who died of influenza upon return. Richard Bronaugh Drake was a World War I veteran, and married his sweetheart immediately after the war. Those were the only two who never went to college. Rupert Alonzo (Lonnie) Drake opened a successful men's clothing store in Edna called Drake's, He also served as mayor of Edna. William Corcoran Drake became a Methodist minister, and then a fifth grade school teacher.
Jerry was Salutatorian at Edna High School. He applied for a college scholarship at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis and to Southern Methodist University. His reasoning for applying to SMU was that his grandfather, Robert Nehemiah Drake, had been a circuit riding Methodist minister in early Texas, so his career aspirations at the time was to go into the ministry. SMU gave him a full academic scholarship. The US Naval Academy finally approved him, but by then Jerry was firmly ensconsed in SMU.
As a writer, he started the SMU Student Publishing Company. He ran it for years. He met and married Jean Gray of Dallas. They had four children together. After receiving his PhD from the University of Texas, he became full Professor at Southern Methodist University, and then became Chairman of the Marketing Department.
He and Dr. Frank Millar wrote a Marketing Research Textbook and case study workbook that sold internationally to major universities. In 1973 and 1974 he was listed in "Who's Who in America".
He retired in Dallas, was active in University Park Methodist Church, the Sales Executive Club, and was a 32nd degree Mason. He came a long way from being a little orphaned boy in rural Texas.