Geraldine Pape

Geraldine Margaret “Gerrie” Guokas Pape, age 91, passed away on November 30, 2019 in Austin, Texas. Geraldine was born on October 19, 1928 in Houston, Texas, to Charles Peter Guokas Jr. and Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald.

Gerrie grew up in Houston’s First Ward neighborhood and graduated from Incarnate Word Academy in Houston. She majored in history at the University of Texas in Austin and graduated in August 1948. As a young woman, she worked for Humble Oil and Magnet Cove Barium in Houston, and took a three-month driving trip throughout Europe in 1953.

She married Frederick Henry Pape on September 11, 1954, in Houston. They met through the Rosarian Club while he was stationed at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, and they raised their family in Houston for 27 years. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she worked for McClelland Engineers in Houston and Drees and Pulte Homes in Lancaster, Texas. She and Fred moved to Fredericksburg after Fred’s retirement in 1993, where they were active in St. Mary’s parish.

Gerrie was an active volunteer with their parishes and the Catholic schools their children attended, and with the Girl Scouts. In her free time, she enjoyed traveling, genealogy, reading, sewing, and trying new recipes. Gerrie and Fred moved to Austin in September 2013 to be closer to family.

Predeceased by: husband and parents; brother Charles Thomas Guokas III; stepfather Wallace “Archie” Archibald; brothers- and sisters-in-law Paul Robert "Bob" Pape Jr. and his wife Dolores Frances "Lorrie" Olker Pape, Elizabeth M. "Betty" Pape Streff and her husband Frank James "Bud" Streff, Rose Mary "Moe" Pape Dietz and her husband Ronald Joseph "Ron" Dietz, James Edward "Jim" Hedger, Barbara Ann Glaze Guokas, and Mary Ann Harpole Guokas; and nieces Rosemary Jean Streff Grandusky and Karen Jean Stuckert Hedger.

Survivors are children Amanda Pape and husband Mark Gresham of Granbury, Texas, Karen Pape of Houston, Texas, Mark Pape of Austin, Texas, Brian Pape and wife Paige Frederick-Pape of Austin, Texas, and Mary Pape of Austin, Texas; grandchildren Eric Bolme, Diane Bolme, Nick Pape and wife Katie Duncan Pape, Madison Pape, Noah Pape, Chase Engel and wife Aly Sanguily; great-granddaughter June Harlow Grace Engel; sibling Sister Jean Marie Guokas; sister-in-law Marilyn Pape Hedger; and many nieces, nephews, and their offspring.

Special thanks to Dee Robinson and Alexis Enriquez for their care of Gerrie, the staff and second floor skilled nursing caregivers at Brookdale Westlake Hills, and the sixth-floor nurses at St. David South Austin Medical Center.

In lieu of flowers, we suggest donations in Gerrie's memory to the Guokas Girls scholarship with checks payable to Incarnate Word Academy, 609 Crawford Street, Houston, TX 77002, or to The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (http://www.theaftd.org/).