Gerald W. “Gerry” Brunette

Gerald W. “Gerry” Brunette, 76, passed away on March 25, 2025, in Georgetown, Texas.

He was born on April 1, 1948 to Floyd Gordon Brunette and Jean Shirley Brunette. Gerry was raised in Odessa, Texas, and graduated from Odessa High School in 1966.

In August 1966, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as an aircraft mechanic in the Vietnam War rising to the rank of Sergeant.

After completing his military service, he continued to advance his education by earning an Associate’s Degree at Odessa College in 1972, Bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing (cum laude) from Southwest Texas State University in 1974, and a Masters  Degree in Audiology from Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Gerry’s outstanding clinical and administrative abilities were first demonstrated during his first audiology career, including when he was an audiology clinical supervisor and adjunct professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program at the University of Texas at Austin from 1977-1979.

His leadership skills also led to a distinguished career with the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (now a part of the Texas Health and Human Services Department), which began in 1979 when he became Director of Rehabilitative Therapies at the Travis State School in Austin, Texas, where he met the love of his life, best friend, and beloved wife of 43 years, Janet Smeltzer Brunette. He spent over 20 years with the legacy TDMHMR Department, including positions as Assistant Superintendent of the Mexia State School, Superintendent of the Richmond State School, and as Director of State Mental Retardation Facilities.

Upon his first retirement in 2000, he returned to the field of audiology and completed his Audiology Doctorate (Au.D.) in 2002 from the University of Florida. He then devoted the remainder of his audiology career as a cherished member of the Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System, where he was committed to providing his fellow veterans with outstanding hearing healthcare services and heartfelt respect and compassion.

Gerry was also very proud to have been a founding board member and the first president of the Scott Haug Foundation from 1984-86. He was an integral part ol launching and fostering the longest continuously running annual audiology conference in the country, which lasted until 2014. The foundation that he helped bring to fruition still holds a critical seat at the Texas Academy of Audiology table and is a strong voice of advocacy for the profession of audiology, and, more importantly, for the patients served and for the audiologists and audiology doctoral students so critical to their care.

Gerry was known to be a quiet man with a dry sense of humor. He had a very unique ability to listen carefully (and silently) during even the most heated and contentious discussions, until he was eventually asked for his take on any given situation. In every instance, the previously noisy room would quieten as he would softy, succinctly, and matter-of-factly offer his thoughts and typically an obvious common-sense solution that no one else had considered! His favorite past times were fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and golfing with his cherished friends.

Gerry was preceded in death by his parents and infant brother Vincent Allan Brunette. He is survived by his daughter Ashley Brunette Revels and her husband Rob Revels: daughter Shelley Brunette Beaty and husband Jeff Beaty; grandchildren Amanda and Harrison: sister Barbara Ann Lillie and husband Hugh Lillie: sister in-law Sharon Mott and husband George Mott; Sandy Ropka and husband Ralph Boltz; and many, many nieces and nephews.

His family has planned a private celebration of life to honor his memory. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Wounded Warrior Project 
(www.woundedwarriorproject.org) or the Scott Haug Foundation Dunlop-Dunckel Scholarship Program (www.scotthaug.org).