JERRY "HAWK" BLOCKER, NATIVE AMERICAN SILVERSMITH, ARTIST, AND WRITER

Jerry "Hawk" Blocker, Native American Silversmith, Artist, and Writer by Snake Blocker

Jerry "Hawk" Blocker was a world renowned Native American artist and writer.  Jerry created a series of Native American drawings featuring various tribal members.  He created a series of Kachina Dolls made from a combination of silver and gold leaves which he coined "The Blocker Leaf."  His silver Kachina Dolls received one of the highest appraised values for any silver work from the Bowers Museum.  Jerry was featured in several newspapers and magazines.  He toured Asia, Europe and several parts of the USA and sold out most of his work on tour. 

Jerry Blocker was a military brat growing up at a US Army base in Germany.  He later moved to Southern California and started a family.  Late one evening in Pomona, California, where he lived, there was a knock on his door.  One of his step-daughters answered and there were some young men asking to speak with Jerry.  When Jerry came to the door the young men all pointed pistols at him and continued to fire shots at him until he fell to the ground.  They took off and left him for dead.  Jerry was hit 7 times in vital areas of his body.  One bullet had hit his spin and paralyzed him from the neck down.  He was rushed to the hospital’s emergency room and placed in critical condition.  Through a miracle, he survived but for the next several years Jerry would need extensive and expensive surgeries.  For years Jerry Blocker was bitter and addicted to the heavy drugs to counter the physical pain. 

Jerry decided one day that enough was enough and he wouldn't continue to feel sorry for himself.  He began training his body to move more and eventually regained some mobility in his shoulders and arms.  He taught himself how to draw and sculpt using his teeth and his wrists.  Several more years passed as he improved his techniques and skills.  Jerry's marriage eventually ended and he later moved to Nevada.  Jerry got his falcon license and exotic animal license and began to buy and train various animals along with his wife, Ginger Licot.  They raised and worked with animals on their private land. They owned several animals and birds including lions, tigers, lynx, wolves, buffalo, eagles, owls, hawks, parrots and other exotics.  After a few years Jerry moved to Northern California and started with a new set of exotic animals.  Eventually he gave up the animals and the drawings and focused on his silversmith and goldsmith work, as well as writing Native American short stories.  

Eventually the years of surgeries and injuries caught up with Jerry and he passed away in 2009 in Southern, California.  His stepdaughters and son remember him as being a survivor.  He rests now in Heaven with no more pain but he touched many lives along the way and inspired many Natives and non-Natives to never give up.