Geraldine “Gerry” Mae Gipson

Geraldine “Gerry” Mae Gipson, 90, was born in 1933 in an old farm house north of Dederick and passed from this life at home on her daughter’s farm near Republic. After being baptized in a farm pond near Dederick at the age of 9, she was a faithful Christian servant whom everyone loved dearly.
Gerry attended elementary school in a one room country school in Dederick and graduated from El Dorado Springs High School in 1950. Her first job was working as a telephone operator while still in high school. She went on to work in the medical profession, as a nurse’s aide at the Cedar County Memorial Hospital and then as a medical assistant for Drs. Sunderwirth and Langlettug in El Dorado Springs.
Gerry married Robert N. Neely at the age of 16. To this union were born three children, Donald, Karen, and Ronald. Robert passed away in 1971 and Gerry later married Raymond Gipson, a minister with two daughters, Nancy and Leesa. Gerry left the medical field to work with Ray at the Show-Me Christian Youth Home, the Illini Childrens Christian Home, the West Central Christian Service Camp and several churches in Missouri and Kansas. She made many dear friends everywhere they served.
Upon retirement, Ray and Gerry joined the Glendale Christian Church, which she loved attending, but when she could no longer drive herself, she moved her membership to the Northside Christian Church. She will be missed at both.
Gerry’s hobbies included hunting, fishing, taxidermy and playing cards. She was a jack of all trades, constructing buildings, doing plumbing and electrical work and gardening. She also did bookkeeping for the church camp and for Robert’s businesses. If you wanted to know anything, just ask Gerry.
Gerry was preceded in death by her parents, William Gilbert Lasley, and Beulah Lasley; husbands, Robert Neely and Raymond Gipson; son, Donald Neely; son-in-law, Donald Hankins; brother-in-law, John Eslinger; and niece, Linda Eslinger.
She is survived by children, Karen Neely Hankins, Ronald (Karen) Neely, Nancy Gipson (Jim) Page and Leesa Gipson Benton; 12 grandchildren, and 25 great-grandchildren; her sister, Lura Eslinger; nephew, Rick (Brenda) Eslinger, and niece, Kathy (Carl) Swadley.