Obituary for Maxine Jean Gerber
Maxine Jean Gerber was born on November 5, 1931, on a farm outside of Benton Ridge, Ohio (near Findlay). She was 91 years old when she passed on October 22, 2023. She was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, David B. Gerber in 2020, by her parents, Hallie and Ethel Riegle, her son-in-law, Stephen Thompson, and all nine of her siblings: Richard, Doris (Alge), Norman (or "Dean"), Betty (Bowers), Olive (died as an infant), Shirley (Hendricks), Don, William, and Jane (Borkosky).
Maxine and David lived outside of Washington Court House on a small, 16-acre farm for 46 years prior to moving to Columbus for health reasons. She loved being outdoors, and her favorite "chair" was the seat of her John Deere X530 2-cylinder, 25 HP mower. At the farm, she did it all: mowing, gardening, cooking, canning fruits and vegetables, sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting, refinishing furniture, painting, and sealing the driveway. She was very proud of the farm, and each year she would find a slightly better way to scrape and paint hundreds of feet of white board fence to keep it looking nice. (She eventually found that a 3-inch paint roller did the best job.) Like her mother, Ethel, Maxine was always eager to lend a hand on any fun or unpleasant task. Need help on fielding baseball grounders? She would help with that, too. An American flag was always proudly hung from their front porch.
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In her favorite "chair" - Click to enlarge |
She was a graduate of Liberty Township School (now Liberty-Benton) in 1949. While her high school degree was her formal education, she could provide PhD-level instruction in common sense. She would provide this instruction as needed. There were also lessons taught in frugality. She never said "yes" when asked if she would like cheese on that. In fact, just thinking about saying "yes" would qualify a daughter or son for another beneficial lesson in common sense.
Her first job was in Findlay, working at the Findlay Electric Company. She left her job to raise her children, and then she returned to work at Holly Farms Grain Elevator in Bloomingburg and to Fayette County Employment Services to earn money to help put her children through college at Ohio State.
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WCH Farm - Click to enlarge |
In addition to living on the farm, David and Maxine lived outside of Findlay and in Ottawa, OH. They also lived in Texas and New Jersey when David was in the Army.
Still surviving are her children: Diane Thompson (fiancé, Donald Knebel) of Indianapolis, David "Scott" Gerber (wife, Kathy), and her grandchildren, Kyle (fiancé, Jingning Ao) of Gaithersburg, MD, and Lauren (husband, Guy Dille) of Cincinnati.
She and David traveled extensively. Early on as a family, they tent-camped throughout the contiguous 48 states, visiting all but North Dakota. These vacations came to an abrupt end when it became necessary to raise farm animals (especially hogs) to supplement the family income. After the farm animals, they later traveled throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Turkey, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Croatia.
She was especially proud of, and she loved all of the time that she spent with her grandchildren. She also loved going to their various sports and band activities. At the end of practically any activity, there was ice cream. She was also very pleased to be able to attend Lauren's wedding to Guy, which was just 15 days before she passed.
Being from Findlay also meant that Wilson Hamburgers and Dietsch Brothers Ice Cream were a regular stop on almost any trip to visit relatives. But again, no cheese on that burger.
Board games were a tradition at all family gatherings, and they still are. Bountiful dessert options were always the norm at all Riegle reunions.
She was fun to be around, and she always kept her sense of humor. She flashed a nice smile to Kathy and Scott when they told her that they were bringing over City Barbeque later that day for supper. She passed away a few hours later in her sleep.
David and Maxine have resided at The Forum for the past eight years. We would like to thank them for their care and support of our mother and father.
Arrangements will be under the direction of the Kirkpatrick-Behnke Funeral Home in Findlay, OH., and she will be buried at the Benton Ridge Cemetery. Friends and family are welcome to attend visitation on Tuesday, October 31. The visitation will begin at 10:00am and the service at 10:30.
In lieu of flowers, please consider giving in Maxine and David's memory to the Gerber Family Fund in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the Ohio State University.
Comments Shared at the Funeral:
Maxine Gerber was a great mother and friend. She was super hard-working and some of that even carried over to her kids, but not so much for the house cleaning part for me.
She loved the Washington Court House farm. That gave her purpose. It was part hobby, part exercise, and part social. She loved mowing and I think that carried over from when her father and brothers would plow or cultivate a field - and upon completion - sit back for a few seconds to admire their work. She mowed four to five acres each week on her beloved John Deere garden tractor.
While she was always kind and personable, she was not outgoing. The "outgoing part" is what Dad did so well. She would generally sit back and enjoy his hijinks. One of the favorite things that he did, and this may be remembered by a few of you, was his "mongoose". He had a 1 by 2 1/2 foot, wooden box. The top was covered by wood and by a chicken wire screen. He had a hole so that the "mongoose" could go back and forth between the hidden, covered area to the screened-in area. To further set the stage, mom, my aunts and uncles, and my older cousins would sit in the back while the younger, unknowing cousins would sit in front by the mongoose box. He also had food for the mongoose, and I would be dispatched to get water for the thirsty mongoose's water bowl. Dad would then explain how mongooses were used to hunt and kill snakes in India, and he made it clear that there was danger involved with handling the mongoose. This was before the Internet and no one asked how he got the mongoose past customs. During this entire time, no one saw the mongoose because there was no mongoose. Instead he had a big racoon tail attached to the lid and the lid was spring loaded. Right as the youngest kids got really close, he would jab a stick into the covered area to get the mongoose to come out of the hole while releasing the spring-loaded lid. While still attached to the lid, the tail would quickly swing out. Anyone sitting close thought that they were doomed. We then all laughed at them. It was great fun.
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Helping with an April 1 prank - Click to enlarge |
Mom could get involved with hijinks herself and she helped me play a prank on my OhioTennisZone.com high school tennis audience. Back before it got crazy popular, I told my readers that high school *tennis* was going to switch to high school *pickleball*. This prank would make tennis players rather irate. Since it was still considered an older person sport at that point, I explained that older players would be welcome on the teams. I then went on to explain the benefits of having older people involved. This included getting actual food after matches were played rather a crappy granola bar. The food would include different kinds of pie and lasagna. Of course, I needed a photo of an older person playing pickleball so she obliged me on a chilly day in the spring of 2019. She didn't play pickleball at 87 years old. She held onto the net and swatted at a few balls, which she could do pretty well. That's the photo of her that you see on the table.
Over the last few months, mom was very hesitant to go out or do very much. It took a great deal of effort to get her to go anywhere. We could typically get her to go down to Washington CH to eat at her favorite restaurant, El Dorado, and then we would drive back and forth past the farm. After several years of trying, we finally also got her to go with us to the Ohio State Fair in August. We sold her on the idea by saying that we'd leave after an hour if that is what she wanted. Guess what? She was still going strong after two and a half hours. We checked out the sheep barn to see the sheep and the wool weaving. We went to the horse and dairy barns. It was then time to see the butter cow and to get chocolate ice cream. Next, it was onto the beef cattle, and of course, the hog barn. We showed her Dad's photo when he was thanked for his 38 years of service to the State Fair. It was on the shelf so we took it down so that she could get a closer look at it. In the group of photos, there is one of her looking at Dad's photo. It was very sweet. From there it was onto Ag Hort to see where dad had his cantaloupe displayed, and then we stopped to finally get her a warm elephant ear. For years, we brought her one to The Forum that we had to warm up for her. After that, it was time for a pork sandwich and walk down the main drag of the fair. While we ate frozen chocolate cheesecake, we people-watched, and uh, people have changed quite a bit since she was last there. We then went into the Fine Arts building to see the quilts, and she was still pointing to other places that she wanted to go.
Since Dad worked at the hog barn for many years, that also gave us the opportunity to see some of the great shows that were held in the outdoor stadium, such as Red Skelton, Bob Hope, and Paul Anka. This was when Paul Anka had just released "Having My Baby". Mom was very giggly when we met Paul Anka after the show with just a towel on.
Obviously COVID-19 was really tough on everyone and she broke all of the rules to see Dad once or twice a day while he was in assisted living, and she was in independent living. After he passed, that eliminated most of her exercise and she resorted to having her meals delivered to her room. She never ever thought of doing any exercises because she was a farm girl, but unfortunately it was still necessary. She was in slow decline after that.
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Celebrating July 4 in 2013 - Click to enlarge |
July 4th was always a really big deal with my parents. We ate well and we blew stuff up. She was a great cook but she would occasionally cut corners when it came to her famous Apple Salad. I don't know if she was trying to goof on us by leaving out different ingredients or if she just didn't have them. Out of the apples, dates, marshmallows, grapes, and peanut butter and mayonnaise sauce normally in the apple salad, the dates were likely to be the most excluded ingredient. One time, I recall her leaving the peanut butter out of the sauce and that was a step too far.
She used to be game for almost anything and Kyle and I took her to the Mid-Ohio race in Lexington one year. I believe she did that because her father had an interest in race cars. That photo is also on the table.
Her grandchildren, Kyle and Lauren, were absolutely everything to her. She would light up whenever they were around and she went to almost all of their activities. She also adored Guy and Jingning. While it was difficult to get her to do many things as mentioned above, there was absolutely no pushback from her on attending the Lauren's wedding. The wedding on October 7th was the last series of good photos that were taken of her. There is also one on the table.
[pause]
The direct Riegle family has had a long run from Grandpa Hallie Riegle's birth on May 2, 1894 to mom's passing on October 22, 2023. That's a 129-year timespan. Interestingly, Grandpa Riegle died on October 20, just two days earlier than Mom's. He died in 1968 and I still remember the nice weather day when we were in Findlay to mourn his death. Unfortunately, today's temperatures will not be as nice.
Thank you very much for attending this today. Please keep our mother in your hearts and memory.
We will go from here to the Benton Ridge cemetery grave site. After that we will go to Panera Bread on Tiffin Ave. We have the bill covered so please do not pay. Since it's not a Gerber funeral without a trip to Dietsch's, we will then go to the Tiffin Avenue Dietsch Ice Cream store after that. It is 1.2 miles west of Panera. We will have that bill covered as well. We hope to see you at both places.
Panera Bread
1971 Tiffin Avenue, Findlay
Dietsch's
1217 Tiffin Avenue, Findlay