GERK, Art

GERTK, ALLEY, APPELGATE, SUBY, HERSHEY

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/4/2018 at 01:14:26

Obituary ~ Art Gerk

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
December 29, 2005

MASON CITY — Art Gerk, a champion of trees, fossils and the natural world, died Wednesday in Mesa, Ariz., where he and his wife, Anita, wintered. Gerk was with his family when he died at Banner Baywood Medical Center in Mesa, daughter Sue Alley said Thursday. “It was good timing on his part — which I’m sure he was working on, knowing him,” Alley said. “It’s tough, but he lived a very good life. He did a lot of good things.”

Gerk became ill after Christmas. The cause of death is not known.

Gerk, 84, of Mason City, co-founded River City Trees, a volunteer organization dedicated to growing and maintaining trees in the city. He served on the Riverfront Commission and co-founded River City Trees, a volunteer organization dedicated to growing and maintaining trees in the city. With the Riverfront Commission he helped establish the River City Greenbelt and Trail system connecting Mason City and Clear Lake with the Lime Creek Nature Center and North Iowa Area College. He also helped revise and update a book about Mason City’s trees, and led an effort to eradicate buckthorn — declaring victory over the invasive species within the city limits this past fall.

Gerk retired from the home insulation business in 1984. That year he gathered troops to help fight buckthorn, a fast-growing plant that sucks up moisture and crowds out trees. He estimated he worked 5,000 hours and pulled 1 million buckthorn plants. The city will honor Gerk by working to keep buckthorn under control, Park Board Chairman Monte Appelgate said.

“I know everyone on the Park Board and the Riverfront Commission is going to miss his knowledge and insight,” Appelgate said. “We’ve lost a good person.”

Gerk was “one of the best volunteers and community-minded persons that the city had,” Mason City Parks Superintendent Mark Suby said.

“He was an energetic individual, very involved with everything that was going on. I think his ‘relief valve’ was to be in the outdoors. He was a happy man when he was out in the field and doing things with nature,” Suby said.

In the late 1980s, Gerk joined Iowa State University students in designing an arboretum in Mason City’s Georgia Hanford Park. In 1999 it was dedicated as the Arthur J. Gerk Arboretum; the scenic area now contains 300 to 400 trees. Alley said her father, who was largely self-educated, could identify every tree species in Iowa. He also collected fossils which are on display at the University of Iowa, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the British Museum in London.

“He made all of his children realize how important it is to learn and to contribute to the world around you,” Alley said. “He really understood the importance of organizing and classifying information, understanding how that made you be aware of the world.”

As the “guiding light” of River City Trees, Gerk provided insight into specific tree issues, said Margo Underwood, the organization’s education coordinator. Art lived his passion — and his passion was planting and caring for trees in the community he loved,” she said. “He always took time to answer a question and help people understand how to plant trees. He was truly a special person.”

— By Dick Johnson

Memorial will be held in the spring

Art Gerk is survived by his wife, Anita; daughters Sue Alley of Apple Valley, Minn., and Jean Hershey of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; son James Gerk of Cedar Rapids; and grandson David Hershey of Bloomfield Hills.

Alley said a memorial service will be held next spring, probably at the Arthur J. Gerk Arboretum in Mason City’s Georgia Hanford Park.

Donations and memorials can be made in Art Gerk’s name to the American Tinnitus Association (www.ata.org), and to the Mason City Foundation for maintaining, supporting and preserving the Arboretum.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2018