Geraldine Gilchrist

GILCHRIST, CRIPPEN, KLATT

Posted By: Mary (email)
Date: 3/17/2007 at 10:15:18

Published March 12, 2007 11:51 pm -

Geraldine Gilchrist, 87, Ottumwa

OSKALOOSA — Geraldine Gilchrist, age 87, of St. Louis, Mo. and formerly of Oskaloosa, passed away March 9, 2007, at the Laclede Grove Retirement Homes.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday morning, March 13, 2007, at Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel with Reverend Bob Dean officiating. Burial will be in Bloomfield Cemetery, Spring Creek Township, Mahaska County.

Visitation began at 11 a.m., Monday morning at Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel; the family was at the funeral chapel from 5-7 p.m. to greet visitors.

Memorials may be made to Central United Methodist Church.

Geraldine was born in Eldora, Iowa to Frank and Gertrude Klatt Crippen.

She graduated from Eldora High School in 1936 and worked at the county courthouse there until meeting Bill Gilchrist in 1942. They were married in October of 1943 and began married life in Marshalltown, where Bill worked at Maytag. A year later their oldest daughter, Bette, was born and two years later their son, Roger. After the war the family moved to Evansville, Ind. where their third child Barbara was born.

Over the next many years, Bill worked for Servel, that later became Whirlpool. The family moved from Evansville, Ind. to St. Joseph, Mich., back to Evansville, and then to Fort Smith, Ark. Bill left Whirlpool and the family went to live in Wichita, Kan. By then the oldest kids were in college and moving on with their lives. Bill and Geraldine then moved to Oxford, Miss. and finally retired back in Oskaloosa to the Gilchrist family farm. Once that was sold, they bought the house on High Street and remained there until Bill’s death in 2004. After Bill’s death, Geraldine moved to St. Louis, Mo. to assisted living to be close to her daughter Barbara. She remained there until her death.

During most of her life, Geraldine was a stay at home mom and housewife, working occasionally in retail. She loved to sew and was so talented that she made her husband suit jackets and everyone’s winter coats. She also was an avid reader and always had at least one book she was enjoying. Her favorite genre as she got older was mysteries. She loved doing all sorts of handwork such as knitting and needlepoint and loved going to her craft club.

You could always count on her for extra pairs of hand knit mittens for the mitten tree at church. She was a member of Central United Methodist Church in Oskaloosa for the last 25 years of her life, where she was a member of the bell choir. She volunteered at the Nelson Pioneer Farm, where she demonstrated weaving. She was very social and had many friends in each of the places that the family lived.

Those left to cherish her memory are her children, Bette (Gary) Rotert of Vernon Hills, Ill.; Roger Gilchrist of Wichita, Kan. and Barbara Gilchrist (Debra Knox Deiermann) of St. Louis, Mo.; five grandchildren, Rachel Horn and Mathew Gilchrist of Wichita, Kan.; Allen Rotert of Charleston, Ill.; Katherine Rotert of Vernon Hills, Ill. and Patrick Gilchrist-Miller of St. Louis, Mo.; a great-grandson, C.J. Horn Jr.; and her sister, Betty Palmitier of Creston.

Besides her parents, Geraldine was preceded in death by her husband; a brother, Donald Crippen; and a daughter-in-law, Mary Anne Gilchrist.