Pauline Alberta Gerst

GERST, HOWE, BROCKWAY, CARLSON, EATON, PRIOR, MALONE, BALLARD

Posted By: David L. Skipton (email)
Date: 12/28/2010 at 00:47:14

Source: The Columbus Gazette

Pauline Alberta Gerst, age 89, of rural Columbus Junction, Iowa, died Tuesday morning, January 19, 2010, at her home. The daughter of Arthur and Ethel Brockway Howe, she was born on July 25, 1920 at rural Mediapolis. She married George Julius Gerst on August 1, 1936 at Burlington. He preceded her in death on October 11, 2006.

Pauline attended Huron School. She was primarily a farm wife, yet she worked as a nurse at Los Angeles General Hospital during WW II years while her husband welded in the shipyards. She also worked at Ceylon (later Thatcher Plastics) in Muscatine, Rath Packing Plant in Columbus Junction and in later years at Casey’s in Wapello.

She had attended the Louisa Center Church and also the Apostolic Christian Church at Oakville. She was a lifetime member of the Moose Lodge in Burlington, a member of the Rebekah Lodge of Columbus Junction, Ducks Unlimited, TOPS, and the I-Club. She loved her children and their families and all the activities to attend, along with ceramics, cooking, and baking.

Pauline’s family includes five children; Vonnie & Fred Carlson of Wapello, George, Jr. ‘Bubby’ and Fran Gerst of Eustis, Florida, Gary & Janet Gerst of Columbus Junction, Cathy Eaton of Winfield, and Beth & Mike Prior of Winfield; twenty-nine grandchildren; forty-eight great grandchildren; seven great great grandchildren; and two brothers, Marion Howe of Mediapolis and Thomas Howe of Texas. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, George; three daughters, Joanne Malone and infant twins Jacqueline and Joyce; a great granddaughter, Denien; a brother, Harold Howe; and a sister, Betty Mae Ballard.

The funeral ceremony for Pauline Gerst was held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, January 23, 2010, at the Dudgeon-McCulley Funeral Home at Wapello. Burial followed at the Kossuth Cemetery at Mediapolis.

Friends called after noon on Friday at the Dudgeon-McCulley Funeral Home where the family met with friends from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

A memorial fund has been established for the benefit of the Iowa Hospice and the U of I Pancreatic Cancer Research Center.