A few months later, as a naive teenager, I decided to buy a camera to photograph weddings. I went to Lawrence Photo and talked to Jerry. Told him I wanted a Yashica Mat 124-G medium format camera. He told me that for weddings, I needed at least a Mamiya C-220. He was right.
A few months later, I was having problems with it winding. I took the camera back, Jerry checked it out, then said, "It shouldn't do that". And he grabbed another off the shelf and said, "Take this one".
Then a few years later, I needed a new flash. Again, he told me the one I was looking at was not a real pro model, and again, he was right.
On the eve of photographing Benjamin Netanyahu at the College of the Ozarks, I had a tripod collapse. The whole camera and lens went into a creek, totally ruining it. That was early evening. I called Jerry at home, asked if he had another in stock. Yes, he did. So I asked, "What time do you open in the morning?". His reply, "Come on up now and we'll go down to the store and get it". He opened the store for me at 10:00pm that night.
Going to miss him, but have a GREAT retirement Jerry. I'll be checking on you!
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| Jerry Stokes, on left, looks on as friends look at a shadow box he received. |
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| Mr and Mrs Jerry Stokes |
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