Geraldine "Gerry" Rhoden-Glade

Been there – done that! Those four words pretty well tell the story of Geraldine (Gerry) Rhoden-Glade’s life.

Gerry’s story began in Omaha, Nebraska, where she grew up with a twin sister and two other siblings and eventually married and had a son and a daughter. When the children were five and nine years old, her husband seized a job opportunity that took the family to Albany, Oregon – temporarily, they thought. They lived in Albany for thirty years!

Her husband, who had learned to work with sheet metal in the military, was in the business of building neon signs and had the distinction of building the seventh largest neon sign in the world, a colorful advertisement for a huge truck stop in Oregon. Meanwhile, Gerry raised children and worked at various jobs, including an eight-year stint at J.C. Penney.

After her husband died, Gerry re-married, but unfortunately her second husband died after only seven years of marriage. By that time the children were grown, and her son, Ron Rhoden, had met and married a girl from North Dakota, Rosemary Geck of Glen Ullin. Since Gerry had no real reason to stay in Albany, and Ron knew she was a good “hand,” he and Rosemary invited her to join them in their ventures and adventures as they ran restaurants in Washington and Oregon, and eventually, in North Dakota.

For a time, Gerry ran a restaurant in Hebron. Gerry had had little opportunity to see her family in Nebraska and she was lonely for them. When her brother’s wife died in Omaha and her daughter, Betty, died here, it seemed right that she would go to be with her brother for a time. Ron seized the opportunity to create a new ground-floor apartment for her. After her ten-month sojourn with her family in Omaha, she returned to her new digs.

After about nine years of living in the jail, Ron and Rosemary were ready to downsize and Gerry was ready to get herself established in her own place. Gerry moved from the jail to Liberty Heights and plunged into life in her new community, working diligently for the benefit of senior citizens and serving on the Advisory Committee and on the Board of Directors of Golden Age.

Gerry has 7 Grandchildren & 14 great grandchildren & 10 great, great grandchildren.