By Gary S. Hatrick
Laker Correspondent
ZEPHYRHILLS — Jerry Sterner received a Key to the City from Zephyrhills Mayor Cliff McDuffie during a Sept. 24 retirement party at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills.
McDuffie joked that Sterner got “the key to go out the back door, but if you want to come back again you can get back in.”
A long line of well-wishers congratulated Sterner, who for 19 years in public relations was the face of East Pasco Medical Center, then Florida Hospital Zephyrhills.
“You’re looking at the end of an era,” said John Harding, the hospital’s chief executive officer. “To be able to go anywhere and hear Jerry’s name, you feel like you’re in the presence of a rock star. “It’s not often that one gets to associate with someone that has done as much as he’s done in this community.
Sterner was recently awarded the 2009 Alice Hall Community Award by the Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce for his many accomplishments and spirit of volunteerism.
The most recent award highlights an extensive list of service for a man who also has been a member of chambers in Dade City and Wesley Chapel; along with rotary clubs in Zephyrhills and Dade City.
Sterner also has served with the American Heart Association, East Pasco Habitat for Humanity, Leadership Pasco, Main Street Zephyrhills, Raymond B. Stewart Middle School Advisory Council, Sunrise of Pasco Domestic and Spouse Abuse Shelter, and the San Antonio Boys Village Board of Directors, among other groups.
Additionally, he has worked with the Pasco Planning 20/20 Committee, Pasco County School Board’s Business & Industry Council, Pasco Economic Development Council and United Way of Pasco County.
Some lesser-known facts are that Sterner served for two U.S. Army tours in Vietnam, earning the bronze star, and was a missionary in Nairobi for six years.
Some community members may not know that Sterner has been the organizer behind the city’s annual tree lighting and Easter sunrise service.
“I’m sorry I won’t be putting the tree lighting together as I have in the past,” Sterner said. “This will be the 25th anniversary of the tree lighting and it should be a very fine event again.”
Sterner said that the past 19 years have been an incredible ride and explained why he became so involved in the community.
“I have such an incredible love for this community,” Sterner said. “When you spend almost 20 years in a community you just grow to enjoy and appreciate, and have a high respect for the people of the community. It’s people that make the community as great as it is.
Sterner and his wife, Martha, plan to move to Chattanooga, Tenn., as soon as their home sells. Once there, Sterner said he will join the rotary and chamber to begin serving that community.
His greatest involvement, though, will be serving as grandpa to his grandson, Luke.
“The joy I’ll have is watching Luke,” he said.
