Adeline Stoeckel

Adeline Stoeckel of Providence passed peacefully, surrounded by family and caregivers who loved her, at Elmhurst Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center on Friday, November 24, 2017. She was born in North Bergen, New Jersey on April 4, 1916. Determined to see 100, Adeline was proud that she made it to 101 -- and a half.As the mother of Marie Stoeckel, Adeline was an involved and generous parent, and this devotion continued when she became a grandmother to Christina Morra. Adeline was the daughter of Anne Marie (Henke) and Jacob Gaechter, the sister of John and Albert Gaechter and Theresa (Gaechter) Deacon, and the wife of Erich Stoeckel and Hermann Kohler, all of whom predeceased her.Independent and self-reliant, Adeline decided to forego high school in favor of a business program, and began working at the New York Life Insurance Company in New York City as a teenager. She met her first husband, Erich, at the Swiss Ball in New York City when she was 16, and they married on the eve of her 21st birthday. She held numerous positions as a secretary/bookkeeper in New York and New Jersey until her second marriage to Hermann Kohler, a restaurateur, in 1957. Adeline quickly learned the restaurant business and continued to run Koenig's Hofbrau in Hillsdale, NJ after Hermann's death in 1961. She remarried Erich in 1964 on their original wedding date, April 3, and they remained together until his death in 1984. In 1982, after spending 67 years in northern New Jersey, Adeline moved to Rhode Island with Erich to be near their daughter. Proud of her German and Swiss heritage, Adeline attended events at the Providence and Pawtucket German clubs, where she danced waltzes and polkas. Adeline loved listening to Strauss waltzes, doing puzzles, telling stories, going for walks in her neighborhood, watching Jeopardy!, drinking Dewar's Scotch, and flirting with tall, young men. She also had an impressive greenthumb, keeping poinsettias she received for Christmas alive for years. She participated in several bowling leagues, both duckpin and ten-pin. She always went out for dinner on Sundays, often joined by family and friends, and particularly looked forward to having a perfect Rob Roy cocktail, a tradition that continued at Elmhurst.Adeline was a committed member of the St. Pius V Church community. She could be seen at the end of the school day waiting to pick up her granddaughter from St. Pius V School, and welcomed Christina's friends to her home on Wyndham Avenue in the afternoons. As her granddaughter grew up, Adeline started attending the Sal Mancini Senior Center in North Providence, where she greatly enjoyed the lunches, bingo, and line dancing, proudly driving there into her early 90s.Her family is very appreciative of the loving care she received at Fruit Hill Day Services while living at home until age 96; at Elmhurst Extended Care, her home for the past five years; and from the staff at Kindred Hospice. Adeline's funeral will be held on Friday, December 1, 2017 at 8:45 am, from the Russell J. Boyle & Son Funeral Home, 331 Smith Street, Providence. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 am, in St. Pius V Church, Eaton Street, Providence, followed by burial at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence. Visiting hours, Thursday, November 30, 2017 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Fruit Hill Day Services for Elderly 399 Fruit Hill Ave, North Providence, RI 02911 or the German American Cultural Society of Rhode Island 78 Carter Ave, Pawtucket, RI 02861 in Adeline's memory would be appreciated.