|
| |
Gerri’s Story
An Annotated Autobiography
It was a hot summers day, 12 September 1920, in Phoenix, Arizona. Rose
Gehrkens Lindner was rushed to the hospital to give birth to Geraldine Linder,
her first child.
It all happened when Fred Lloyd Lindner, an Army flying
instructor was injured in an accident while training a student pilot to land an
airplane. Rose had gone to Phoenix to be with her husband. The rough
roads and her late pregnancy caused me to arrive early!
My Mother’s parents were German immigrants. They
spoke good English and fluent German. They lived in Hollywood on the
southeast corner of Franklin Avenue and Beachwood Drive.
Mother had two brothers, Walter and George. Walter, the
oldest brother/uncle married Mildred “Millie” Carmichael. Both passed
away several years ago. George is still alive and well and lives in
Columbus, Ohio, with his third wife, Peggy, a lovely lady from Belgium.
Virginia, his first wife died of a stroke. He married again and had two
sons by his second wife. They divorced after twenty years. He then
married his third wife, Peggy Dosart, whom he met in Belgium while on an
assignment to engineer and build aircraft for the government.
After returning to West Hollywood in Los Angeles County, I
was raised along with my brother, Fred Lloyd Lindner, II. We attended the
local schools and after I graduated from Fairfax High School, I attended UCLA.
My favorite sport was racing on ice skates! I became
the women’s champion in the Los Angles Area, and skated frequently at
the Van Ness Ice Rink in Hollywood. While enjoying an evening of skating I
was asked by a little girl, Carolyn Guy, to tag her skating instructor whom she
had unsuccessfully tried to catch. After agreeing to help, I
increased my speed. When I put out my hand to tag the instructor I
literally knocked him off his feet. The instructor was my future husband,
Milton R. Entwistle.
As was mentioned before, Mother was a school teacher.
She graduated from UC Berkeley and taught mathematics at Virgil Junior High, in
Los Angeles.
Fred Junior (affectionately called “Junie” for junior)
and I traveled each summer with Mother while on vacation. Mother taught at
Virgil Junior High until she retired in the late 1950's. We traveled all
over the Great Northwest and into Canada returning each summer just in time for
the start of the fall school session. I became an expert in keeping
Mother’s Hudson touring car running, either chewing gum, bailing wire or a
hand pump was an essential to each emergency repair. We traveled with a
small six-by-eight-foot box trailer filled with camping gear and supplies.
The trailer was of wood construction and finally gave up the ghost in 1973, it
had served long and well!
I had been my mother’s chauffeur, cook, and housekeeper as
she was inflicted with osteo-arthritis and was terribly crippled by that
dreadful disease.
I have many fond memories of our travels to the various
National Parks and to the great scenery of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington,
Wyoming, Colorado, and Canada, that have lasted me through my entire life and I
often relate the stories of my adventures not the least of which was when I was
thrown into the lake at Jackson’s Hole, Wyoming, because I admitted being from
Hollywood! I almost lost the tip of my left index finger while
chopping wood for the camp fire.
As a member of the first Girl Scout Mariner’s Ship on the
West Coast, “The Sea Witch”, (the equivalent to the Boy Sea Scout
Organization), I enjoyed being a charter member. The friendships I had
made in that fine group have lasted me during my entire life. For many
years and until the death of our beloved leader “Skipper (Henrietta) Allan,
the now adult members held an annual reunion in Skipper’s home. That
ritual spanned more than 40 years! After Skipper’s death, Elise Nybo,
held the group together with post Christmas meeting in her home.
I’m a Christian Scientist and regularly attended the
Hollywood First Church.
In 1939, Milt and I were married in the little Presbyterian
Church in Santa Paula, California, Santa Barbara County, on 27 August. We
honeymooned for a week on a trip to and around San Diego. Their first
night was spent in Long Beach where our hotel room overlooked the breakwater
basin and we enjoyed a beautiful fireworks display “put on in our honor - to
celebrate our momentous event” - at least that is the way we tell the story!
We stayed in the El Cortez Hotel in San Diego and at various motels during the
trip in Milt’s Auntie Jane’s “Lady Jane”, a four door 1931 Chevy sedan.
Milt took his favorite picture of me feeding the doves at the San Juan
Capistrano Mission.
Milt and I lived in a duplex in Glendale while our home in
Burbank was under construction. Milt was employed by Lockheed as the
patent artist. When WWII came along Milt joined the Navy. I went to
work as a lofts man scribing huge metal templates. I transferred from
that job to teach shop skills (riveting, drilling, etc.) to new employees.
Finally I decided to go home and raise our son, Charles Milton Robert, our first
child. To increase or income I took in and care for other children
to help with living expenses. At one time I had over eleven children in my
care - Milt put his foot down and I reduced the number to seven - still a big
job! I raised chickens and sold eggs to Lockeed employees - and had no
trouble finding costumers!
We had three children - Charles (Enty) Milton Robert, Jerry
Ross and Lauretta Ross (now Mrs. Clifford Slike). Enty has three names. He
was originally to be Charles Milton but, he was born on Milt’s brother Bob’s
21 birthday - March 18. As a result he wound up with Charles, after Uncle
Charles Entwistle, Milton, after his dad and Robert, after his Uncle Bob
Entwistle.
In 1972, we moved to Santa Cruz, California. The story
of the home and it’s purchase all started when an engineer and long-time
Lockheed friend, Dave Fraezure needed a place to stay while working at the
Burbank plant. He had been laid off from his job (during a cutback) in
Sunnyvale. On weekends we would drive Dave home to Aptos. We fell in
love with the area and purchased a home that was under construction.
In those days Highway 5 was under construction too, and the trip often was very
exciting - the combination of fog, rough detours and the lack of rest stops made
the journey “a trip to remember”.
Epilogue:
Gerri’s tour with the Coast Guard Auxiliary brought her
many well earned honors. They came in the form of certificates, letters,
medals and gifts from the Regular Coast Guard, the Auxiliary, the public schools
and her beloved Eastern Star.
The Eastern Star has been a love of hers since she joined
Hollywood Chapter 209 in 1949. She served as Worthy Matron in 1957 and on
many committees and events until she moved to Santa Cruz (1972).
She was the president of the Burbank, CA, PTA and
hosted many events at the local grammar school over the years. During the
thirty years in Burbank Gerri served as Inspector of her Voting Precinct for
more than 25 years. After moving to Santa Cruz she also opened our
home for the County Clerk as a polling place and finally gave up that activity
to serve as an inspector at the Santa Cruz Harbor Precinct until her health
failed and she was forced to continue as a clerk, and then she filled the job
until her health further deteriorated forcing her to bed.
For six years, Gerri was a regular “student” at the Santa
Cruz Stroke Center where she attended classes until once again poor health made
her give that up too. Her work as an inspector at the polling places
during elections carried over from Burbank to Santa Cruz, and stopped that
activity for the same reason - poor health. All of her poor health is
traced back to her strokes - eight to be exact.
Many, many exciting and pleasure filled events marked
Gerri’s life. She saw each of her beloved children through their hard
times both in school and in their latter lives. They always responded with
deep love, understanding and patience. She reveled in the fact that she
had such beautiful grand and great-grand children.
She was a fine boat pilot and coxswain, and did search and
rescue work (SAR) for the Coast Guard; she received the Plaque Of Operational
Merit, the award given to an Auxiliarist “for saving a life at the risk of
one’s own”. She 1990 SHE received first place at the National
Conference of the Auxiliary for her outstanding work publishing the 12th
District’s bi-monthly newsletter “The Whistling Buoy”, a 36 plus page
magazine. Many district and division awards in the form of certificates,
plaques and gifts were awarded for her activities in teaching, courtesy marine
examinations, public appearances, at boat shows, member training, speaking
engagements, work in the Director of Auxiliary’s office, standing long
communication watchtower shifts high atop the Crow’s Nest Restaurant,
scheduling watches, and doing several TV interviews. A number
of these awards merited ribbons and medals.
Gerri loved people! She would do anything to help on
any project and would even volunteer to make banquet table decorations, a job
from which most people would run.
The decorations were auctioned off to raise funds for the
Coast Guard Auxiliary AIM Project - sending high school juniors to the Coast
Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut during summer break. She was a
Red Cross volunteer and served as secretary of the Disaster Committee for two
years.
On the morning of October 10 at 0846, after months of pain
and suffering Gerri passed away quietly leaving a tremendous hole in Milt’s
life, but it was a great relief to know the all the pain and suffering were at
last gone! This is but a brief collection of the wonderful life and loves
of Gerri - she will always be remembered for kindness and the love she
gave to others.
Gerri has left many stories untold; here are a few:
Each of our children have married and have given us
beautiful grandchildren. The grandchildren have produced 9 great
grandchildren! So far!
Gerri’s exploits as a Coast Guard Auxiliarist has spanned
more than 30 years. First she served as Flotilla Commander of Lockheed
sponsored Burbank Flotilla 6-11. She went on to serve as the Public
Education Officer for the 11th Coast Guard District and was the first woman to
hold such an office in the Western CGAux Area. and as a National Staff Branch
Chief in the Department of Education. After moving to Central California
She served on National Staff as a Branch Chief for a period
of five years in the Department of Education.
Gerri and Milt had joined the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in
May 1969. In operations Gerri was a fine skipper and she served as
Commander of her flotilla in Burbank. As District Staff Officer for Public
Education, for the then Eleventh Coast Guard District, Gerri continued serving
and became Commander of Santa Cruz Flotilla, Division Captain of Division
4 and was the Division Captain when the Monterey Bay Flotillas were split off to
form and salvage Division 6 Flotillas in the Morro Bay Area. She taught
many public education boating safety classes and trained many members of her
flotilla, and division in classes designed to enhance boating safety and
boating expertise.
At Gerri’s side were Charles “Enty”, Jerry Ross (who
came home from Temuco, Chile to help his Mother) and Lauretta and her husband
Cliff, her three wonderful boys, Cliff, Jr.,and his wife Christina Lawton Slike,
of Greeley, Colorado; Christian Slike, his wife Amy Kiehl Slike, and their
children, Austin and Hannah; and Craig Slike of San Diego. Gerri had
enjoyed the love and care given to her over the years by Lillian Marinello, her
closest and dearest friend, Jack Meehan, Bruno Sargentini, her neighbors: Harry
and Johanna Beckman, Jerry and Jan Lynch, Connie Love, the Lopez family, and the
wonderful staff from Hospice Care, Melinda Roy, RN, Carol, Tina and Diana, care
givers, and volunteers Gail Cohen and Judy Zolezzi, Chaplain Jan Landry, and
social worker Mary Weiland! Care giver Lourdes “Lulu” Cruz, and the
Dominican Home Care personnel, especially Susan Thomas, R. N., all of whom
offered love, understanding and fine professional help and made Gerri’s entire
family more comfortable and able to cope with the dark possibilities and heart
wrenching times during the final days of losing one so beautiful, and dearly
loved. Gerri has gone on to a better place, one filled with love, no pain,
and in the words of Milt, where she belongs - “sitting on the right hand of
God.” Amen.
The entire family ( to summarize) consists of:
Milt,
Enty and Laura and Enty’s daughters, Nancy, Jenifer, and Karen
Jerry Ross and sons, Gabriel, William, Hasan and Sharaf
Lauretta and Cliff Slike and sons Cliff, Jr., and Christina; Christian, Amy,
Austin and Hannah; and son Craig, of San Diego, CA.
|