Gertrude M. Kitowski

“Aunt Gerlie” was born in Chappell Hill, Texas on December 22, 1925 to Wallace and Annie Szymanski Stempuhowski. She was one of nine children. She is preceded in death by her husband Ernest Kitowski, her parents and five brothers - John, Alphonse, Steve, T.J. (Pat) and Bennie Stempuhowski and two sisters - Evelyn Meleski and Regina (Irene) Zawacki.

She is survived by her sister, Bibian Loukanis, and numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

She grew up in Chappell Hill and went to St. Stanislaus Catholic School. She met Ernest and they married on February 5, 1949 and moved to Houston. Ernest passed away in 1970. Aunt Gerlie never remarried and devoted her time to her family, her work and her home.

She worked until age 65 when she retired from Sears Roebuck & Co.

Aunt Gerlie was a second mom to many of us as she was not blessed with children of her own. She hosted many weekend sleep-overs where we were treated with good food and special desserts and a cold Coca Cola. She loved to cook and enjoyed finding a good recipe that she just had to try from her monthly subscription to Better Homes and Gardens magazine and the cooking shows she watched on Channel 8. Of course, any new recipe she would try were not as good as the “old fashioned” ones from her 1950’s Better Homes and Garden cookbook. Her best desserts were oatmeal cookies and pecan pies.

She was always outside tending to her yard, either nurturing her flower beds or having a vegetable garden where she would grow green beans, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes. Although it has been several years since we enjoyed fresh vegetables from her garden, she managed to maintain her yard and flower beds.

She was a very active person and kept busy with maintaining her home, yard, family and attending church every weekend.

Aunt Gerlie was a devout Catholic. She prayed the rosary everyday and attended mass every weekend at Assumption Catholic Church where she was a member for over 50 years. There she enjoyed fellowship with Jesus, Father Albert and her friends.

She survived a heart attack in November 2011 and recovered well. She continued to live alone until November 2012 when she fell and broke her hip. Recovery from this injury took a very long time and it became very hard for her to walk. In the recent days, her strength began to fail and assistance was needed to care for her. She became a resident at Park Manor in Tomball, Texas.

On Friday, February 14, 2014, she closed her eyes and took a nap with the Lord. At 3:46 her loving heart stopped and she entered the Kingdom of Heaven where she became the next welcomed member at the card table where she will be playing Pitch with her sisters and brothers.

The pallbearers will be her nephews, Mike Zawacki, Melvin Meleski, Darrell Loukanis, Kervin Buckner, Ryan Tice and Derick Janak