Gertrude Susan Weber

Gertrude “Gertie” Weber, 97, passed away Saturday, June 27, 2020 at Wellington Health and Rehab.

Due to Covid 19 the family will hold a private Rosary and Mass at St. Anthony St. Rose Catholic Church in Wellington, burial will follow at a later date at Sumner Memorial Gardens in Wellington. Visitation will be held at the Shelley Family Funeral Home of Wellington from 12-5 P.M. on Tuesday, June 30 with family available to receive friends from 3-5 P.M. Memorial contributions in Gertie’s name may be made to the Mission Thrift shop or the St. Anthony St. Rose Bells Restoration Fund and may be left in the care of the Shelley Family Funeral Home. 

She was born on June 25, 1923 in Garden Plain, KS to loving parents Michael and Minnie (Landwehr) Stuhlsatz. On July 18, 1945 she was united in marriage to Robert Weber at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Wichita. Gertie was a farm wife and loved raising her family; she enjoyed childcare for many years and then worked at the Mission Thrift Shop in Wellington.

Gertie is survived by her daughter, Norma DeVault and husband John, son Richard Weber and wife Kim, son Dale Weber and wife Jeannie, daughter Janet Marshall and husband Chuck, son Mark Weber and wife Tara Canfield, daughter in law Connie Weber, sister Agnes Henning, 28 grandchildren, 63 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren.  

She is preceded in death by her husband Robert, sons Wayne, Harvey and Ron and 12 siblings.

Mom always liked to tell the story of how she first got interested in Bobbie, her future husband. Robert Weber lived down the road from Mom. The Weber’s would drive their cattle down the road in front of Mom’s house to pasture them down the road. Mom and Agnes would always go out and sit on the fence when the Weber’s drove the cattle down the road. Obviously Mom had her eye on Bobbie Weber. The rest of the store is history.

The following memories are from her grandkids:

When it comes to Gertie Weber, aka Grandma Gertie, aka Warrior Woman, there is one thing we all knew…..she loved her family more than anything……and she let everyone know it!  Her memory will live on in all of us, but most certainly her grandchildren, in which she referred to them as “her babies”, no matter how old they were.  Grandma was so proud of each and every one of them.  She had a special place in her dining room that she kept all the newspaper articles or pictures of her grandkids, whether it was for baseball, softball, basketball, debate, Homecoming, Honor Roll, any award, or even a little mention, she would cut it out and hang it up on the wall in the dining room.  Proud doesn’t even begin to describe how she felt for each one.  Her grandchildren have many memories that will live on forever and continue her legacy here on Earth. 

Jenny says, “When it came to the Ron Weber kids, grandma knew if she would not be able to take any of us home with her, she would not be able to even stop by the house to visit.  One particular day that is so vivid, is grandma would have to make the difficult choice when she stopped by, before she knew it, she saw Julie, who was around 2 or so, climbing into her car with her butt sticking up in the air with a diaper on with every intention of going home with her that day.  When Jeanette even saw Grandma’s car coming down the street, she would run inside and let us all know Grandma was coming and Jeanette would start packing her bag.  Then, when we had not seen her for a while, we would call her to see when she was going to come pick us up.” 

Jamie says she will remember how Grandma would twiddle her thumbs on the steering wheel as she drove.  Grandma would always say, “Eat your beans, Dad!” Grandpa would just grunt back at her.  But, it’s the deviled eggs……the deviled eggs play a significant role in her later years as well.  Everyone was scared to eat them because they were dark in color (which alerted us) and you had no idea how long they’d been sitting out.  Grandma would sit them on the table at the lake, and Norma would come behind her and get rid of them.  I also loved when Grandma would be arguing with the aunts in the kitchen and I’d come in and take her side and get her riled up.  Mom, Aunt Janet, and Aunt Kim would roll their eyes and tell me to get out of there and quit egging her on!

Ashlea says, “Grandma always made me mashed potatoes when I came because she knew they were my favorite (and she would let me eat them for breakfast)!  Since I was often at the lake alone with my dad and we never brought any food (because we brought the boat), I had breakfast in Grandma’s cabin when she made breakfast for the boys which she did every morning every year!  I also think Wayne got lots of special treatment (Shhhh….don’t tell Richard).  She would always say to everyone, “Don’t wake Wayne up.  Let Wayne sleep in” and we always got to go to the latest Mass so dad could get his beauty rest. She was always getting something ready for someone.  One night I called her around 11 and I asked her what she was doing and she told me that she was just getting some food ready because Dale was stopping by for lunch the next day.” 

Shane’s memory….and we can all hear her saying it……..The classic all time story, when grandma told me she told the girls that the Weber boys work hard and when those boy are at the lake, you take care of them, they need that! 

Jaron remembers, “Dylan and I were supposed to be watching Chase, but instead watching TV.  We hear a pop and smelled ozone.  I was like, “Dylan, did you hear something?” I look around the corner and Chase has stuck a hairpin in an outlet and it melted in his hand.  He didn’t even cry until water hit it. We couldn’t find mom or dad, so we called Grandma.  She rushes over with some pink savv and doctors him up and rock him in the rocking chair, singing “baby, bye” until mom and dad got home.  The song lyrics had 3 words over and over…”oh, baby, bye”.  I will remember how she loved when I came for lunch, loved her hamburger gravy, and biscuits, or coconut pie (hungry yet?).  She always had a pie or cake ready.  I remember one day out at the farm I was watching Tom and Jerry and eating club crackers.  Grandpa was playing solitaire.  For some reason, I got interested in the card game and asked Grandpa to show me.  Well, in Grandpa’s gruff tone, “baaaaaah, you can’t play this”.  He just didn’t want to stop and teach a kid.  I hear Grandma holler from the kitchen, “You teach him! If you can learn it he can, too.  Just show him!” So, Grandpa did.  I think of that day every time I play solitaire now. 

Jenny Ternes Hartman wanted to share a memory: Gertie Weber started taking care of me when I was just six weeks old. I joined her grandchildren at her house and grew up truly believing I was just a lucky kid with 3 grandmothers!  Once my mother tried to explain that she was not my real grandmother, and I became upset.  Grandma Gertie said, “Oh, that is nonsense.  Of course I am your grandma!” She treated all of us with such love and affection, whether we were her blood relation or not.  A favorite memory of mine is sitting at her bar counter with all the other kids as she dished out my favorite meal, her chicken and rice soup, made from scratch.  To this day, it remains my ultimate comfort food and brings back such happy memories from childhood.  Every time I would come home from college or be in town visiting, I would see her at church and receive one of her big hugs and she would always tell me she loved me.  She was an integral part of my childhood and I will forever be grateful that she was my Grandma Gertie. 

Stephanie says, “We lived the best childhood, and a lot of that was attributed to Grandma Gertie. She was always in the kitchen making everything we liked best; had a freezer stocked full of fudge popsicles; never said "no" to a sleepover; let us play endless hours of Barbies, school, restaurant and dress up; knew how to make us feel our best when we were sad, mad or angry; gave us the best holiday goodie bags with a dollar bill; introduced us to Wheel of Fortune; lived by her faith in God and passed it onto us; and the memories seem endless. She is one of the best.”

Niki remembers,  “Our summers out in Kansas and how Grandma spoiled us rotten!  It seemed like she never wanted to say no to anyone and if she had to then she would make up for it in a different way.  There was time where Erika and Alexa got to go to maybe the lake or somewhere? I don’t remember where they went, but I was too young to go so grandma made it a special day for me and her and she pulled down paper dolls from the closet that we had never played with before (I think they used to be Norma or Janet’s.  There was also another time where we all went to the pool and I was too scared to go in the deeper water and so I think Tiffany or Stephanie called grandma and she came to hang out with me while everyone else went into deeper water.  She was always looking out for everyone and always knew how to make you feel special. 

Nicole Goodrum says, “I started staying at Grandma Gertie’s with Tiffany and Jenny Ternes around the age of four when my mother went back to work and needed a babysitter.  I know she had a lot of grandchildren of her own, but I always felt like part of the family and claimed her as my own grandmother along with cousin Jenny.  Grandma Gertie always made us feel special.  There are a couple of fun memories I’d like to share.  We were allowed to have a Barbie town in the basement of the Weber home.  Grandma Gertie would let us leave it up all the time, which is pretty amazing in that there was a lot of “grands” around! It included a plastic house, and wood houses that my dad, Mark would build, and lots of furniture, cars, and Barbies.  The three of us would play for hours down there.  When the weather was hot we had our own private swimming pool, a cow tank that was placed in the driveway and filled up with a garden hose.  There is a photo floating around somewhere of us girls posing by the pool.  Grandma Gertie would sit in the shade of the garage, letting us have our fun.  At last, a special movie memory.  Grandma Gertie took us to the movies at the Regent one time.  After we got in and were settled, she took out a special treat in her big purse that was packed for us to snack on….PORK RINDS!!!  I remember we did eat it, but I have to say I haven’t had it since that movie.  I will always remember Grandma Gertie fondly, and this was a small part of her life, I’m so glad I got to be part of it.  Prayers to Tiffany and the Weber family. 

Brandon states, “The key indicator of dad’s patois was that he would truncate contractions like didn’t into dint and shouldn’t into shunt. Ashlea and I always got a kick out of that. One time in KC we were going to church and grandma was saying something about how cars when she was growing up dint have turn signals (or something like that) and Ashlea and I laughed and laughed because it was precisely how dad said dint. And grandma thought we were laughing at the concept of not having turn signals so she kept saying well they dint. Pleasant connection between mother and son. (Incidentally years later when I went to college I kept calling people named Jenn, Gin, and it took me a long time to hear the difference.
Another time I believe in high school grandma was in town and I asked her when women would be able to be priests. I was being a bit of a provocative punk. I was curious what she would say. And she said without missing a beat “well first priests need to be able to get married”. She was pretty practical after all!”

One of Bobbie and Jeremy’s memories of Grandma Gertie was the last three trips to the annual Table Rock lake family reunion, she road with them. They would always stop at the Downstream Casino to gamble. She was never quite ready to leave, however she always behaved for them since they were considered, “Her boys”.

Brad remembers, “She was the hardest worker I have ever met.  I have worked retail my whole adult life.  When I was about 22, I had to work an Easter.  I went to mom’s house after work and was down because I missed Easter dinner.  Grandma was there and she said Grandpa got up every day around 5 to milk the cows, no matter what the holiday.  She said when you have to work, you have to work.  That has stuck with me ever since and to be strong because she was.” 

Dylan says, “ Back then, we got a lot more snow and she knew we were going to go straight for the deep drifts and ditches.  So, she would dress us up in our snow clothes and then she would use bread bags over our feet and arms to keep them dry when we were playing.”

Tiffany says, “Grandma Gertie.  Where do I start? It’s so hard to put a lifetime of memories into a few simple words.  We all know Grandma had a larger than life attitude. I’m pretty sure she passed that down to many, if not all of us, in the Weber family. If there was one word to describe Grandma (and there truly is not just one word to describe her), it would be constant.  She was always there for all of us, even when we didn’t want her to be!  ��ï�ïï Grandma was ALWAYS talking about one of her kids or grandkids.  I’m pretty sure she annoyed all the other grandma’s around town.  She literally would always be bragging about one of the grandkids. Growing up, there was at least one, if not many of us always staying with grandma.  She wouldn’t have it any other way.  Grandma also had a way with Grandpa.  Grandpa just knew it was easier to do what Grandma said.  We may have been the ONLY kids in the world at the swimming pool with their grandma who had brought Pork Rinds for snacks. From the Barbie room, to putting on plays for her and grandpa (she would make grandpa sit there and watch us, too), to sleepovers, to later going to softball games, swim lessons, driving us to CCD every Wednesday…….Grandma was always there.  She was truly living her best life, but in the end, it was us living our best life because of her.”

As you can see, Grandma Gertie had quite the impact on our lives.  Family was her greatest accomplishment in life.  She would do anything for her boys and grandchildren (Sorry, Janet and Norma). She was one of the best and we couldn’t be more privileged to call her Grandma.  We are proud to carry on her legacy.

The above memories are just a sample of all the lives Grandma Gertie impacted. It didn’t matter whether it was blood or not. She saw no difference in people. They were all her family. For example there was a young gentleman broke down on Highway 81 by the farm in the late 1960’s. The first thing she did was feed the gentleman after he used the phone for help. His parents were so impressed by her kindness that they actually stopped by the farm some years later to thank her for being so kind to their son. In these days not everyone was receptive to someone of color. She truly saw no difference in people. Everyone was good person.

During her later years she worked tirelessly for the thrift shop. Her philosophy for working there was that someone has to help these families that the thrift shop served. She did this until she physically couldn’t perform her duties any longer. She told many stories of her and Sis Metzen working at the thrift shop.

She also worked tirelessly in taking care of Dad at home until his death at home in Jan of 1999. Mom was never selfish. When she could no longer care for her house, she insisted on moving to Wheat Capital Manor, which was an independent living facility. She did not want to be a burden on her children as we constantly were repairing her home.

Mom/Grandma, we all are very proud of your accomplishments. We only hope to be close to your kindness and your value system. We will all miss you.

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