Jerry Nelson Maxfield

Jerry Nelson Maxfield of Springfield, Missouri, died on March 30, 2026, at the age of 85.

He lived a life marked by devotion—to his family, his work, and, in the end, to a long-set-aside love of painting that he returned to in his later years.

He was born on July 14, 1940, in Kansas City, Kansas—on Bastille Day he liked to say, to Carroll Andrew (“Max”) and Mary Elizabeth Maxfield. He is survived by two sisters, Judy and Nancy. Jerry is also survived by his sons, Shawn and Tracy, and his grandson, Andrew.

Jerry first took up painting in 1959 at the age of 19, using borrowed oil paints while briefly attending college. Not long after, he joined the U.S. Army Reserves, completing basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, and went on to work a series of jobs in Wichita. He married Kay Bryan, and together they built a life centered on family. They raised their sons, Shawn and Tracy, while Jerry worked in sales for Celotex, a national manufacturer of building materials including insulation, roofing, and sheetrock. During the mid-1980s, while Kay earned her master’s degree in education, Jerry took watercolor classes at night and painted regularly, signing and dating each piece. His last painting from that period was completed in 1989.

In the years that followed, Jerry’s life was defined less by art and more by steady presence—work, family, and the quiet rhythms of everyday life.

In December 2015, Kay was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Jerry cared for her with unwavering devotion until her death in July 2016. Those who knew them witnessed not only a long marriage, but a deep and abiding partnership.

In 2023, Jerry picked up his paintbrush again, on the encouragement of his son, Tracy.

When Jerry returned to painting, his work had changed. His earlier pieces—careful, realistic still lifes—gave way to something more whimsical, more expressive. There was a lightness and a brightness to his later work, a sense of play, bold color, and freedom that seemed to emerge from a life fully lived and a world reimagined.

In July 2023, he presented his first public show as the featured artist at Tea Bar & Bites Bakery and Café in Springfield. It was a quiet milestone, but a meaningful one—a return not only to painting, but to a part of himself that had waited patiently for decades.

When Jerry was not painting, he was often in motion. He loved bicycling, riding a recumbent bike through the winter months and a mountain bike the rest of the year. He took weekly West Coast Swing dance lessons and was often out dancing with his son Tracy and a circle of friends. He also exercised regularly with friends, entertaining them with self-deprecating humor and stories from his boyhood escapades. Some of his art emerged from those fitness class stories, a turquoise outhouse, a multicolor saddle, numerous abstract portraits of people he loved.

Described by some as “a ray of sunshine,” Jerry is remembered for his steady devotion, his dry humor, his love for his family, his gentle friendship, and his willingness—late in life—to begin again.

Permanent online condolences, stories and photos may be shared at www.hhlohmeyer.com