Memorial

Esther E Gerhold, age 96, residing at the Hiawatha Care Center, formerly of Center Point, Ia. quietly passed away on September 17, 2012. Esther was born to the late John and Isabel Reding on June 21, 1916 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She graduated from St. Patrick’s school in Cedar Rapids in 1933. Esther enjoyed playing saxophone during her school years and continued on to play for Musical Memories Dance Band during the mid 1930’s. On December 11th, 1936 Esther and Henry W Gerhold were married at Rock Island, Il. They purchased a farm near Palo, Iowa where they farmed and raised dairy cattle. In 1963 Linn County purchased their farm to develop into a county park - Morgan Creek County Park. They moved to Center Point, Iowa where she resided until 2006. She worked at Quaker Oats before she was married, in 1964 she was employed by the Center Point School system as a Cook and in 1986, at the age of 70, she retired after 22 years of service. She was a long time member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Center Point where she sang in the choir for many years. In approximately 1968 she started the first Girl Scout troop in Center Point where she also served as Troop Leader. Esther had two loves; her first and foremost was her family. She was very proud of all of them and often boasted about how many grand, great-grand and great-great-grandchildren she had. Esther’s second love was travel and she was able to see many parts of the US in her lifetime, including Alaska, however her favorite area was the Rocky Mountains. You could always count on her having plenty of pictures to share and adventures to talk about. Survivors include three children: Lora L Behrens of Atkins, H John Gerhold of Center Point and Cheryl L (David) Cudworth of Anamosa, 14 Grandchildren, 20 Great-grandchildren, and 11 Great-great-grandchildren, two sisters-in-law Virginia and Joan Reding, a brother-in-law Eldred Gerhold and long-time friend, Lois Rowe. Preceding her in death was her husband Henry W Gerhold of Center Point, daughter Barbara J Thompson of Marion, grandson Chris H Thompson of Marion, her sisters Florence Kelsey, Margaret Kahler and Susan Reding and her brothers John and Clarence Reding.Memorial services will be held at 3:00 PM on Saturday October 20, 2012 at the Cedar Memorial Park Chapel of Memories where friends may call after 2:00 PM on the 20th. Pastor David Hansen will officiate. Inurnment at Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery. Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. The family of Esther Gerhold would like to gratefully thank the Hiawatha Care Center for the wonderful, loving care they showed to their mother for so many years.Donations received will be used to construct and place a park bench at Morgan Creek County Park in memory of Henry W and Esther E GerholdPlease leave a message or tribute to Esther’s family on our web page, www.cedarmemorial.com under obituaries.