Geraldine ‘Gerri’ Linder Entwistle
Services are Saturday for Geraldine "Gerri" L. Entwistle, who died Friday at her home in Santa Cruz. She was 83.
Mrs. Entwistle was born in Phoenix. She grew up in West Hollywood and attended Fairfax High School and UCLA. She met Milton Ross Entwistle in Hollywood, and they married in 1939.
Mrs. Entwistle was a devoted mother and homemaker, Worthy Matron of Hollywood Eastern Star, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Burbank and president of the Burbank PTA.
After moving to Santa Cruz in 1972, she became active in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, serving on district and national staffs in the Department of Education and serving two years as a division captain. She served on election boards as an inspector for more than 25 years.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Milton; sons Charles Entwistle of Prescott, Ariz., Jerry Ross Entwistle of Santa Cruz; daughter, Lauretta Slike of Sylmar; 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Services will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Santa Cruz First Church of the Nazarene, 115 S. Morrissey Ave., Santa Cruz.
Contributions are preferred to the Hospice Caring Project or Cabrillo Stroke Center.
October 17, 2003
—-
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 Hanna.
Services are Saturday for Geraldine "Gerri" L. Entwistle, who died Friday at her home in Santa Cruz. She was 83.
Mrs. Entwistle was born in Phoenix. She grew up in West Hollywood and attended Fairfax High School and UCLA. She met Milton Ross Entwistle in Hollywood, and they married in 1939.
Mrs. Entwistle was a devoted mother and homemaker, Worthy Matron of Hollywood Eastern Star, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Burbank and president of the Burbank PTA.
After moving to Santa Cruz in 1972, she became active in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, serving on district and national staffs in the Department of Education and serving two years as a division captain. She served on election boards as an inspector for more than 25 years.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Milton; sons Charles Entwistle of Prescott, Ariz., Jerry Ross Entwistle of Santa Cruz; daughter, Lauretta Slike of Sylmar; 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Services will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Santa Cruz First Church of the Nazarene, 115 S. Morrissey Ave., Santa Cruz.
Contributions are preferred to the Hospice Caring Project or Cabrillo Stroke Center.
October 17, 2003
—-
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 Hanna.
Geraldine ‘Gerri’ Linder Entwistle
Services are Saturday for Geraldine "Gerri" L. Entwistle, who died Friday at her home in Santa Cruz. She was 83.
Mrs. Entwistle was born in Phoenix. She grew up in West Hollywood and attended Fairfax High School and UCLA. She met Milton Ross Entwistle in Hollywood, and they married in 1939.
Mrs. Entwistle was a devoted mother and homemaker, Worthy Matron of Hollywood Eastern Star, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Burbank and president of the Burbank PTA.
After moving to Santa Cruz in 1972, she became active in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, serving on district and national staffs in the Department of Education and serving two years as a division captain. She served on election boards as an inspector for more than 25 years.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Milton; sons Charles Entwistle of Prescott, Ariz., Jerry Ross Entwistle of Santa Cruz; daughter, Lauretta Slike of Sylmar; 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Services will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Santa Cruz First Church of the Nazarene, 115 S. Morrissey Ave., Santa Cruz.
Contributions are preferred to the Hospice Caring Project or Cabrillo Stroke Center.
October 17, 2003
—-
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 Hanna.
Services are Saturday for Geraldine "Gerri" L. Entwistle, who died Friday at her home in Santa Cruz. She was 83.
Mrs. Entwistle was born in Phoenix. She grew up in West Hollywood and attended Fairfax High School and UCLA. She met Milton Ross Entwistle in Hollywood, and they married in 1939.
Mrs. Entwistle was a devoted mother and homemaker, Worthy Matron of Hollywood Eastern Star, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Burbank and president of the Burbank PTA.
After moving to Santa Cruz in 1972, she became active in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, serving on district and national staffs in the Department of Education and serving two years as a division captain. She served on election boards as an inspector for more than 25 years.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Milton; sons Charles Entwistle of Prescott, Ariz., Jerry Ross Entwistle of Santa Cruz; daughter, Lauretta Slike of Sylmar; 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Services will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Santa Cruz First Church of the Nazarene, 115 S. Morrissey Ave., Santa Cruz.
Contributions are preferred to the Hospice Caring Project or Cabrillo Stroke Center.
October 17, 2003
—-
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 Hanna.
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