Geraldine Rita (Kozlowski) Stoeckl-Conklin

On April 11, 2024, Geraldine Rita Stoeckl-Conklin, of Milwaukie, Oregon died peacefully in her home after a year-long battle with cancer. She was 87.

She was born June 18, 1936 to Raymond and Mary Kozlowski in Detroit, Michigan. When Gerry was eight years old her parents moved the family from Detroit to San Bernardino, California where Gerry lived for the rest of her childhood. During her life she also resided in Ogden, Utah; Florence, Oregon; and four years in Germany, which she regarded as some of the best years of her life. Since 2014, Gerry has lived in Milwaukie, Oregon with her youngest daughter and son-in-law.

Gerry was preceded in death by her first husband, Paul Stoeckl (m. 1954) and her second husband John “Jack” Conklin (m. 2001) and is survived by seven children: David Stoeckl (Amy), Richard Stoeckl (Cindy), Robert Stoeckl, Teresa Stoeckl, Jeanne Bush (William), John Stoeckl (Andrea), and James Stoeckl (Jennifer). Gerry enjoyed welcoming sixteen grandchildren into this world and has ten great grandchildren. One of seven children, Gerry has three surviving siblings: Raymond Kozlowski, Rose Montag, and Jeanne Hiss.

Gerry is remembered for her good sense, intelligence, and above all her kindness. She was married twice to loving men, both of whom preceded her in death. She valued her family, and treasured the family reunions which would occur every other year when all her children, grandchildren, and extended family would gather in a campground for five days. She enjoyed travelling, reading, music, and sports, especially golf. She also enjoyed writing and for much of her life she journaled, wrote newspaper stories for the Air Force paper, and wrote a novel (unpublished). Late in life Gerry had one of her short stories published, and she leaves a second novel nearly finished. A great believer in learning at any age, Gerry proudly earned her Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies at the age of 77.

She had many happy memories of her young childhood in Detroit. She remembered living in a middle-class residential neighborhood with nearby empty lots to play in and had memories of walking with her brother Ray to the corner store to buy penny candy. She had fond memories of playing in the small backyard skipping rope, playing jacks, or roller skating on the sidewalks. She was surrounded by her extended family, aunts and uncles, and she was especially close to her grandma and her Aunt Helen, who she always affectionately called “Auntie Lawn.” Her favorite book was “Heidi,” and her favorite poem was “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.”

In 1945 her parents moved the family from Detroit to San Bernardino, her father driving a black Pontiac with five children and pulling a utility trailer. They purchased an acre of undeveloped land at the north end of town, initially living in a canvas structure while her dad built the house. Her life growing up there could be called a hardscrabble life. She remembered “a lot of hard work, unemployment and being poor, a lot of worry and stress, making a lot of mistakes, and yet building a life and bringing a lot of goodness into it. Work was found, bills were paid, the house was built, and the garden planted, the children grew, and the faith stayed strong.” All four girls shared a single bedroom. Her father found a job at Kaiser Steel where he trained to be a welder and later, he helped build Disneyland.

Her mother loved gardening and took care of the house chores and cooking. Gerry remembered, “At an early age I had many chores: doing the dishes, cleaning the house, taking care of the younger children, cooking, baking, weeding the garden.” In her free time, she enjoyed “riding my horse, playing with my friends, going to the library, sitting in front of the cooler reading.” Although the whole family attended church on Sunday together, she had good memories of just her and her father attending church together during the week.

One of the great joys of her childhood was when her parents bought a horse, “Lady”, when she was 10 or 11 years old. “She was a bay, all brown with a star on her forehead. She was the family’s horse, but after a while nobody rode her but me. I’d put on her bridle, sling myself on her back and gallop across the fields.” Gerry was sad when the family had to sell Lady after a couple of years.

Gerry was an excellent student and skipped the sixth grade. She attended St. Bernardine High School where she participated in the usual activities that we think of for high school, including football games, pep rallies, and sock hops. “The girls wore full-circle skirts, ponytails or ‘poodle’ cuts, bobby socks, and sweater sets.” She also enjoyed the local stores. “I’d go to Harris Co. to play records, to JC Penney to look at clothes, to Thrifty Drugs to sample perfumes.”

Early in 1954 she met Paul Stoeckl, and the following August the pair wed. By the end of 1965, the couple had seven children. Paul worked at the local Air Force base, and Gerry stayed home taking care of the children. In 1965, the Air Force transferred Paul’s job, so the family moved to Ogden, Utah, a move which initially neither of them wanted. Over time, however, they learned to appreciate their life in Utah. They enjoyed the beauty of the local mountains and would take the family camping each summer. Every year the family would go back to San Bernardino where Gerry and Paul’s mothers still lived. Several times they traveled by station wagon all the way to the East Coast to visit relatives. When the children were old enough, Gerry took a job with the IRS doing seasonal work. In 1977 when an opportunity arose to move back to San Bernardino, they accepted it. This move did not work out for them and within a few years they moved back to Utah.

Gerry always dreamed of living abroad, and several times Paul applied for jobs overseas, including France, Italy, and Japan, but these never became a reality. But in 1984, a job opportunity in Germany arose for Paul, and this time Gerry got to realize her dream. They lived in Germany from 1984 until 1988, and they used their time there to the fullest. Bringing their four youngest (adult) children, they lived in small villages, getting to know their communities, attending wine fests and Fasching events with their neighbors. Being adventurous, they took every opportunity to visit other countries in Europe, including France, The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium. They even attended the British Open golf tournament in England! Gerry regarded her time in Germany as some of the most special years of her life.

Returning to Utah in 1988, Paul and Gerry resumed their life. In 1990 they took a vacation to a place neither of them had been to before, the Oregon Coast, and they both fell in love with it. They moved to Florence, Oregon in 1991 where they loved the climate, the forests, the beaches, and the quiet small-town life. Their years there were very happy until Paul’s death in 1999.

Gerry was blessed enough to find love again when she met Jack Conklin, and they were married in 2001. The couple shared a love of the beach and were able to rent a house across the street from the beach for two years. They were active in their church and were Hospice volunteers for several years. Jack’s health deteriorated and he moved to an assisted living home in 2014. It was then that Gerry decided to move closer to family.

Gerry moved in with her daughter, Jeanne, and her son-in-law, Bill in 2014. They found a house together in Milwaukie where they lived happily together. They shared a love of reading, watching sports, and having family visits. Together with Gerry’s other daughter, Teresa, who lived nearby, they took many trips to the coast, and were able to go on two cruises together, one to Europe where Gerry was able to visit her beloved Paris again, and one to the west side of Mexico.

Gerry had a lifelong love of music. Over the years her favorites included, “Blue Tango” by LeRoy Anderson, “No Other Love” by Perry Como, “Wish You Were Here” by Eddie Fisher, “That’s All” by Nat King Cole, Glenn Miller and other music from the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, John Denver, 1980s pop, and above all, love songs by Johnny Mathis.

Gerry maintained a spiritual faith throughout her life. She had written, “When I die, I believe that life goes on in the spirit, and the ‘Other Side’ is our true home. I don’t know exactly what we do there or what it looks like, but it’s a place of great beauty, peace and joy. We’re given the instinct of survival as part of our human nature, and we try to stay alive as long as we can, but I think when we die and reach the Other Side, we say, ‘Thank goodness! I made it!’”

Gerry will always be remembered for her friendliness and her down-to-earth good sense. She loved telling stories of her past, and those listening were always captivated. Her family couldn’t have asked for a better person to be their mom, grandma, sibling, aunt, and friend, and they will miss her every day. Her memory will live on in the hearts of all those who knew and loved her.

A funeral Mass will be 11:00 a.m., Saturday, April 27, 2024 at St. Clare Catholic Church, 1812 SW Spring Garden Street, Portland, OR 97219.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of Gerry’s favorite charities: Catholic Relief Services - https://www.crs.org/ or the Benedictine Sisters in Mount Angel, Oregon - https://www.benedictine-srs.org/donate