Corinne Siceloff Gundersen, age 91, of Austin, Texas died peacefully on Sunday, May 5th, 2013. She was born in Newport News, Virginia, on January 5, 1922, the first child of Irene (Hacker) and John C. Siceloff. As the oldest of eight children, she early on mastered the art and science of raising children and managing a household.
Although she was trained and worked for many years as a legal secretary, her real love and her career was her family. In 1945, at the end of WWII, she married a handsome soldier from Chicago, Robert (Bob) Gundersen, pictured above. Together they raised two children, a son Jon and daughter Gail. The family settled on the Peninsula in Warwick, Virginia until 1962, when the family moved to Texas to join the Manned Spacecraft Program at the Lyndon B. Johnson Spaceflight Center in Clear Lake City, Texas.
As a devoted mother Corinne stressed the importance of family and the value of a college education to her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Corinne also enjoyed cooking, sewing and needlework. She spent many hours baking desserts including her often requested Ranger cookies. Her creative energies were invested in her children, family and her church. She was always ready to jump right in to make costumes, colorful pillows and Christmas stockings for friends and family.
Corinne moved to Austin, Texas in the early 1980s when her husband retired from NASA to be close to her daughter and their family. Today she is “Grandma Corinne” to four grandchildren, Alan Leifeste, Lisa Doll, Brett Leifeste and Jeff Sneden and “Great Grandma Corinne” to one great grandchild Jackson Doll… with another on the way in September 2013.
In addition to her parents, Corinne was preceded in death by her son, Jon Alan Gundersen and her husband, Robert T. Gundersen.
She is survived by her daughter, Gail Gundersen Sneden, son-in-law, Christopher Alan Sneden and grandchildren, Alan Leifeste and wife, Amanda, Lisa Doll and husband, Jason, Brett Leifeste and Jeffrey Sneden; and great-grandson, Jackson Doll; her siblings, C.D. Siceloff Coolidge, Georgia, Jeanette Thomas and Virginia Hamby of Newport News, Virginia and Warren J. Siceloff of Basking Ridge, New Jersey as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
The family wishes to extend a special thank you to the caring staff of Collinfield House as well as to the nurses from Buckner Hospice.
A memorial service will be announced at a future date.
In lieu of flowers and customary remembrances, memorials may be sent to Meals on Wheels, 3227 East 5th Street Austin, Texas 78702.
Condolences may be sent to www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com.
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