Inge Maria Gerstenberg

Inge was the first child of Hermann and Mimi Grell and was born October 6, 1932, in Chula Vista, CA. Her parents had immigrated to the US from Germany the year before in order to escape living under the Nazi regime that was beginning to take power in Germany.

They had a 6-acre lemon orchard at the bay end of L Street in Chula Vista, near the railroad packing house. In December of 1937, her sister Christa joined the family. As children, they raised chickens, ducks, geese, and had a cow to provide milk and also make butter and cheese. While their primary business was the lemon orchard, during World War II, they had 250 chickens and sold eggs to help the people in their local community.

She was part of the first graduating class from Chula Vista High School in 1950. When she was 16, she was introduced to John Gerstenberg, who had recently come from Germany to live with his father and start a new life in America. She would sit with him at their church youth group and translate for him so he could participate with the group. As they spent more time together, they began dating and were married on August 2, 1952, just prior to John's deployment to Japan with the Air Force.

While John was in Japan, she worked as a clerical worker in downtown San Diego and began building what they were going to need to start a household and raise a family.

When John returned from his deployment in Japan, Inge went with him as he finished his military service in various locations in the US, including Sedalia, MO, and St. Charles, LA When John was discharged from the military, they returned to Chula Vista to start their family.

In November 1955, son James arrived, followed by daughter Susan in September 1958, son John in September 1962, and son Eric in February 1966. In late 1967, the family relocated from Chula Vista to El Cajon to try to improve some health concerns with Jim and Eric. The new house in El Cajon was on a half-acre avocado grove, which was a wonderful place to live as a child.

In late 1969, John and Inge were divorced, and Inge became a (mostly) single parent with four young children. In spite of the challenges, she was able to get all four to adulthood, and somehow kept most of her sanity. When John and Eric were in high school, she went to work as a bookkeeper for Langley Corporation, where she worked for several years.

Her job ended about the time her parents started to experience some health issues, and she spent much of her time taking care of her parents. She was able to care for them until they passed in 1989 and 1991.

She loved to travel - some of her trips included going to Europe with her sister and brother-in-law, visiting friends in the Midwest, going to Israel, Hawaii, and visiting relatives in the Pacific Northwest.

Her yard was her "happy place", and she spent countless hours doing yard work and trying to keep up with the weeds and outsmart the gophers. (She was never able to successfully do either one, but loved the opportunity to try.)

The most important thing to Inge was her family and she deeply loved any occasions where the family was able to get together. She deeply loved all of her 9 grandchildren, and 14 great grandchildren, with number 15 scheduled to arrive in September Her one regret just before passing away was that she was not going to be able to meet her new great-granddaughter.

Inge always had a smile and a positive attitude, even when faced with things that seemed impossible. She had a very strong faith and love of God, and spent hours every day in prayer and meditation. She firmly believed that with God, ALL things are possible, and her life was a beautiful example of Christian living-she was a prime example of "practice what you preach". I don't think anyone ever heard a bad word come out of her mouth, and she always had time to talk, but would mostly listen and always had a few words of wisdom or advice.

Rest in Peace, Mom, Gramma, Great Grandma - we all love and will deeply miss you, and we will see you again someday!