Gerleman, Randy 1956 - 2020
GERLEMAN, GIPSON
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/19/2024 at 21:00:44
Randy Gerleman, AKA as Maximillian (Max) in the south, and known as Randolph (Randy) Gerleman in Iowa left this earth on January 14, 2020 in Cornelia, GA. He was born February 7, 1956 to Richard and Rita Mae (Gipson) Gerleman. He was the third of 7 children born to Richard and Rita Mae, his brothers were Alvin(Ricky), Gerald(Joey), Frederick(Fred), and sisters Barbara, Rebecca(Becky) and Pamela(Pam), (his favorite “little” sister, who happens to be the writer of this obituary!).
Randy and his siblings grew up on an 80-acre farm in rural Decorah off of the Ossian Blacktop. Randy never forgot his roots and was always proud to be from Iowa. Randy often reminisced of his days on the farm, playing in the dirt with his brothers, butchering pigs, chickens and climbing the windmill with them and Ma screaming at them to get their a$$es down from there. His favorite memory of all was hauling milk (in those days the milk was hauled in cans) with his neighbor David Sersland (who also gave him his first beer!! he proudly would tell.) Each and every time Randy came to Iowa, he would go see David and reminisce about the “old” days with him.
Randy went to the “school of hard knocks” as he would say, aka South Winneshiek school in Calmar, Iowa. The stories he would tell of the cars he owned, the drag racing he did, the drunken fights at Matters, being in and out of the ditches and outrunning the cops. Sheriff Mel Lee and Cliff Carey were household names at our house. I, being a little girl probably thought Mel or Cliff were our “uncles” for as much as they came to visit us.
After graduating from high school, Randy started working for a company digging telephone lines. This job took him to Kentucky where he met his future wife and on Aug. 6, 1979 he became a Daddy to Corby Randall Gerleman (his proudest accomplishment of his life) While in Kentucky he continued to work for that company and he also raised tobacco and built many tobacco barns by himself. A year later on Aug. 16, 1980, his only child Corby passed away.
After his days in Kentucky, he headed to Georgia to be near his sister Becky. His jobs included hauling mail, being a self-employed mechanic, Austin Powers dynamite and lastly in a junkyard. Randy was a master of many trades: he could put together a truck that was torn to pieces, build barns and spent many years driving trucks and being a mechanic on big trucks. Randy was also very inventive: he scoured the junkyards for things that he could rebuild, clean up and reuse, or put together to make something useful that no one else had ever thought of. He loved to cook and thought he was an amazing chef. One of his favorite meals to make for his sister Becky was hog jowls, collard greens and black eye peas because she loved it, ( NOT !!, she would sneak what she could to his dog and put the rest in her napkin!!) I never spoiled his beliefs on that.
Randy experienced his hour of fame on television back in 2006. I sent a letter to the show about him and he was chosen to be featured on TRICK MY TRUCK! The episode was called, MAD MAX SPACED OUT. Randy made a name for himself as a renegade rescue man in Georgia. For years he found stranded truckers, fixed their rides and got them out of trouble. The 1 thing that set him apart from the other rescue trucks was his legendary service truck. Are you ready for this? His service truck was part school bus and part fire rescue truck. And he cut them up and put them together himself. You really need to check it out on google. You won’t believe it until you see it for yourself. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Who could and would do such a thing?, yep my brother, that's who. I often wondered how many wrecks he caused as he drove it around and people were gawking at him, wondering what in the world is that?
The last few years as his health continued to decline, due to a bad hip with no insurance or funds to replace that hip, he had to quit working. Not one to sit around and do nothing, he still managed to cut his own wood to heat his house. He would use his walker to steady him as he cut the tree to the ground, he would then kneel on the ground with his chainsaw to cut it up into chunks and then split it by hand. He also spent many, many hours cracking black walnuts and was so proud when a lady that owned a bakery bought them from him. Another project he continually worked on was taking wires out of old computers and finding the “gold” that was in there, stripping it down and then melting it down so he could make some cash. He had accumulated a fair amount, that is, until his sister Becky threw it out! (Another tally mark for me being the favorite “little”sister!!)
My brother was far from perfect, he didn’t always make the right choices in life, but he was pretty amazing and very UNIQUE. Randy led a very simple life; he was not materialistic at all. He was a kindhearted man, who would give his shirt off his back to help someone, he never met a stranger, and loved to make people laugh. He told some of the craziest stories that a person should’ve only believed half of what he said. I’d like to clear up the 1 story of him being a Navy Seal, he told countless people that he was a Navy Seal! Nope, not true people, he wasn’t even in the Navy.
Left with memories are Annette, his dog Buffy, brother Fred, and his 2 little sisters Becky and Pam (who will continue to debate which one of us was his favorite little sister). Several nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews, scattered in N.E. Iowa, southern Iowa, New York, Georgia, Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And his amazing friends Marshall, Elbert, Bob B, Eddie, Dennis and Big John. Thank you, guys, for helping him in his times of needs and for putting up with his craziness. A special thank you goes out to Elbert; I am so thankful that you were with my brother as he passed away in your arms. Thank you for shielding his lifeless body from the cold and the rain until the ambulance got there.
Ready to welcome him into heaven was his son Corby, the old man (Richard), Ma (Rita Mae), brothers Ricky and Joey and sister Barbara.
Lastly, I would like to share one of his and I’s many conversations back in 2015. Both of us were always thinking of new ideas to do. I shared with him that I had donated some children’s books from the Depot to the ER waiting room in town. The very next day he called, and he had come up with a “better” idea (of course he did!). He asked me if I would help him donate to Children’s Hospitals throughout the U. S. in memory of his son Corby, of course I would. I would get the books, put a label “In memory of Corby Gerleman” on them, and he would pay for it all. The first hospital that he wanted to donate to was the Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky, where his son Corby had been a patient. His plans were for him to deliver in person that 1st box. I started gathering books, got the labels on them and was ready to start mailing them out when he said he was ready. With his declining health and low income, he wasn’t able to fulfill his part, and wouldn’t let me pay for the shipping, so we never accomplished that for him. That is my next project, I am going to do my best to fulfill his dream and take it on myself to donate books to all Children’s Hospitals in memory of Corby Gerleman and now his Daddy Randy. Any memorials received in his memory will be put directly to the book fund.
And finally thanks to Vince Gill and Patty Loveless:
I know your life on earth was troubled, and only you could know the pain, you weren’t afraid to face the devil, you were no stranger to the rain…
Go rest high on that mountain, brother your work on earth is done.
Oh how we cried the day you left us, and we will gather in Kentucky around your grave to grieve.
I wish I could’ve seen Corby's face
when he saw his DADDY coming through the gates.
Go to heaven a shoutin love for our father and YOUR son.
Go rest high on that mountain
Brother your work on earth is done…
Love you and miss you Randy.
Randy’s wishes were to be cremated and his ashes spread over his son Corby’s grave in KY, which we will fulfill in the near future. His ashes will also be made into beads for jewelry that I make that I will hand out as samples. I make jewelry out of dried flowers, trees and human and animal ashes. (www.pmcreations31.com) Another idea is to be filled into shotgun shells and blasted in the air(he would love that). Who knows what else I may do with him, maybe spread some of his ashes here, and there? The possibilities are endless………...
Source: Fjelstul FUueral Home database
Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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