Obituary of Ardis P. Gerlach

Ardis P. Gerlach, age 81 formerly of 2603 Friendship Street, Iowa City died Thursday, October 21, 2004, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids following complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday, October 25, 2004, at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Iowa City with the Reverend Timothy Zimmermann officiating. Entombment will follow services at the Memory Gardens Cemetery Mausoleum. Visitation will be from 3 to 5pm Sunday at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City. In lieu of flowers, family requests memorial donations can be made in her memory to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church Choir or Eastern Iowa Alzheimer’s Foundation. Online condolences may be sent for Ardis’s family through our website @www.gayandciha.com. Ardis was born June 25, 1923, in Hubbard, Iowa the daughter of Arthur and Emma (Engelking) Dubberke. She graduated from Hubbard High School in 1941. On July 27, 1942, she married Richard E. “Dick” Gerlach. The couple moved to Iowa City in 1945 where they resided until 2000. In addition to caring for her family Ardis worked in the office at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church for a number of years, and then for nearly fifteen years she worked for the Iowa City Community Schools in the administration office, retiring in 1985. She and her husband Dick were charter members of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, where she was active in the choir, ladies guild and fundraising activities; she also enjoyed being in the Senior Choir at the Senior Center. Ardis loved her golf, those Iowa Hawkeye’s, and nothing brought her more joy than her family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Her family includes daughters and their husbands, Susan and Larry Hibbs of Cedar Rapids, and Jane and Steve Smith of Fairbanks, AK; sons and their wives, Geoff and Peggy Gerlach of Omaha, NE, and Dan and Karen Gerlach of Myakka City, FL; five grandchildren, Stephanie Graves, Marisa Gerlach, Daniel, William, and Thomas Smith; six great-grandchildren, Max and Sophie Graves, Devin, Gabriel and Noah Lasher, and Lydia Rose; sister and her husband, Ruth Altman and Joe of Radcliff, Iowa. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dick on December 19, 2002; and a grandson, David Smith. Ardis loved her family, and they loved her dearly, they will miss the always happy, smiling, singing, joyful mom, grandma, great-grandma and friend. Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service of Iowa City is caring for Ardis’s family and her services.