Gertrude Berniece “Gertie” Pinkert
1924-2022
Gertrude Berniece “Gertie” Pinkert (Dunkel), age 97, a former Medford Area resident, passed away on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at Pleasant View Nursing Home where she was a resident for the past seven years. Gertie was born on Aug. 6, 1924, in Perkinstown, to Richard and Louise (Dunkel) Hensel. Because her mother died during her birth, she was adopted and raised by her maternal uncle and aunt, Ernest and Emma Dunkel. She graduated from Hannibal High School where she met her future husband, Oliver Pinkert. Gertie and Oliver were married on May 20, 1944, in Medford, a few weeks before he shipped off for basic training at Camp Blanding, Fla.
Gertie was part of the Greatest Generation. She endured the hardness of the Great Depression and became a wartime bride, having to wait until her husband returned after WWII from Europe to start a life together. She was a strong, hardworking woman who worked alongside her husband on the family farm, first in the Township of Grover and then in the Township of Browning. She was not afraid to work outside the home as well to make ends meet for her family. Gertie worked for a time processing mink pelts in Hamburg and then took a job at Phillips Plastics in Medford, where she worked until retirement. She was a friend to many and a lover of life. She enjoyed playing cards, traveling, and working Sudoku puzzles.
She will be greatly missed by her surviving children, Tonda (Tim) Werner of Phillips, Edwin Pinkert of Medford, Talora (Steve) Zank of Cottage Grove, Wis., and Roger (Diane) Pinkert of Mansfield, Texas; 10 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, three step great-grandchildren and four step great-great grandchildren.
Gertie was preceded in death by her husband, Oliver; her sisters, Erna (Lyle) Wedin and Edith (Patrick) Clough; and her brother, Richard Hensel.
A memorial service will be held at Hemer-Pickerign Funeral & Cremation Services in Medford on Saturday, June 18 at 11 a.m. The Rev. David Elleman will officiate. Visitation will take place at Hemer-Pickerign Funeral & Cremation Services from 9 a.m. until the time of the service on Saturday, June 18. A meal will be served at the Grover Town Hall in Perkinstown following the service. After the meal, interment of her cremated remains will take place at the Hannibal Cemetery, Township of Cleveland, Taylor County.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions go to Pleasant View Nursing Home in Gertie’s honor.
Hemer-Pickerign Funeral & Cremation Services of Medford and Rib Lake is serving the family. Online condolences can be left at www.hemerfuneralservice. com.
Paid Obituary 122032
