GESELL, Jean Sarah 1917-2008

GESELL, WILLOUGHBY, HUPMAN

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 1/24/2013 at 23:34:49

Jean Sarah Gesell died peacefully at the home of her daughter in Columbus, Ohio on December 5, 2008. She was 91 years old – a polite, pretty and adventurous lady.

Born September 27, 1917 in Grundy Center, Iowa of parents Hugh and Clara Willoughby, she attended the University of Northern Iowa and graduated from Northwestern University. She worked as an interior decorator in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and married Robert Charles Gesell in 1940. Their adventures began when he became a career officer in 1941 and later an employee of Goodyear International. Together they made more than 20 moves and lived 15 years outside the United States. They retired to a farm in Grundy Center to raise horses and eventually relocated to Mesa, Arizona.

Predeceased by her husband and her brother Bliss Willoughby.

Siblings Francis Smoldt of Grundy Center, Iowa and Robert Willoughby of New Castle, New Hampshire, and daughter and son-in-law Barbara and Ronald Hupman of Columbus, Ohio survive her.

Jean Gesell supported many humanitarian projects both at home and abroad and remained active in her church and PEO. She will always be remembered for her kindness and hospitality and will be sorely missed. Interment will be in Grundy Center, Iowa at a later date.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 25, 2009, at American Lutheran Church with burial in Rose Hill Cemetery, both in Grundy Center.

[Source: Dahl-Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home]