Matt Fikse wasn’t old enough to work at Gerald’s Jewelry during the days when his grandfather was still behind the counter interacting with customers.

Over the years, though, he’s heard countless stories of how Gerald Fikse conducted business with a certain charm and passion that resonated throughout his jewelry store.

This week, those stories continued as longtime customers stopped into the store on Midway Boulevard in Oak Harbor to offer condolences to the family of a man who made a lasting impression in his community.

Gerald Fikse died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 83 Saturday night following a period of declining health.

Part of his legacy is one of Oak Harbor’s longest-operating businesses, which opened in 1958 and is still being run by two younger generations in his family.

“He just had an aura about him of professionalism in work and away from work,” said Matt Fikse, who followed his grandfather and father, Dave, in becoming a gemologist and working in the family business now known as Gerald’s Diamond Jewelers.

“I hear stories about how passionate he was. He was so excited about what he did.”

Audrey Butler, owner of the Greenhouse Florist & Nursery, another longtime family-run business in Oak Harbor, remembered that same passion and said Fikse embodied the North Whidbey Rotary Club’s motto of “service above self.”

Fikse genuinely cared about meeting his customers’ needs at a time when they came to him during some of the most special occasions in their lives, she said.

When Dave Fikse thinks about the biggest traits his father passed on, he said two words came to mind.

(Below: Photo by Ron Newberry/Whidbey News-Times Dave Fikse, right, owner of Gerald’s Diamond Jewelers, said the community’s support over his dad’s passing has been incredible.)

“Honesty and integrity,” he said.

“He was to a fault as honest and upfront as he could possibly be. His integrity meant more to him than anything. He would honestly do anything he possibly could for anybody.”

Dave Fikse, who took over ownership of the business with his wife Jane after Gerald retired in 2008, started working for his father when he was a sophomore in high school. He has been a full-time employee since graduating in 1975.

Jane Fikse said her father-in-law’s health began declining after the passing of his wife, Janet, in March 2013.

They were married 62 years, working side-by-side together at the store for 50 of those years.

“Now, we can think of them being together again,” Jane said.

A public memorial service for Fikse is 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15 at Whidbey Presbyterian Church in Oak Harbor.

Dozens of customers have come into the store to share their sentiments and memories of a man they remember as kind and giving.

“The outpouring of support from this community is absolutely incredible,” Dave Fikse said.

Tim Ryan, owner of The BBQ Joint with his wife Sonna, located next to the jewelry store, said that Gerald Fikse will be sorely missed. He frequently came into to the restaurant before his health declined in recent years.

“He was outgoing, friendly and welcoming, and he just passed that onto the next generation,” Ryan said. “Dave is very much like that. Dave is just a gracious, very nice, warm person, and he’s passing that onto his son at the jewelry store.

“It’s just a legacy he’s created. It’s very admirable to create a business like that, grow it and let it be such a part of the community.”