Christine Erika Gentry

Christine was born in Dresden, Germany on 7 January 1940. She was raised in WWII Germany. As a child, in 1945, mom remembered the American tanks rolling through town and she remembered seeing the American soldiers and knowing that someday she would immigrate to America and become a US citizen and join the US Army.

In 1961, she did just that. With no family accompanying her, and no family to go to in the US, she embarked on her journey of becoming a US citizen and joining the US Army. Upon arriving in the US, she was sponsored by a family in Michigan, whom she came to adopt as her American ‘parents’, and later, her children would only know as Grandma and Grandpa. She quickly joined the US Army and several years later was granted her US citizenship. She met a man in the military and fell in love. They were married and had two children….and life went on from there, with its trials and tribulations, as life often does.

I tell you this brief story with emphasis on the fact that this young woman, at the age of 21, picked up and moved halfway across the world, to a country she was not a citizen of, and joined the military of that country, and fought for, and earned, her citizenship. For me, for us, for my sister and I, this is an amazing story and a feat of remarkable courage and fortitude. Though this may be the story of many immigrants to the US at that time, this is the story of our mother. Our mother, a truly loving, hardworking, dedicated, devoted, determined, persistent lady.

There are many, many great facts I could tell you about our mom. Many facts, many great wonders, stand out. But at least two of those stand just a little taller, or perhaps a lot taller, than the rest. First, she loved God. I spent a lot of time with mom in the end and I can attest to this, that woman loved God more than she loved herself. Her faith was unshakeable. There was no doubt in her belief in or love of Jesus. Mom was first and foremost a Christian…always…unwaveringly!

Next, mom loved her children more than she loved her own life. Her children were the accomplishments she was most proud of. Though her children sometimes caused her consternation and frustration, mom was staunchly and firmly resolute in putting her children above herself, putting their needs in front of her own, before her own. Her children, like most do for most parents, at times brought her the most sadness, but overall, they also brought her the most joy. Mom was secondly a selfless and loving mom. She would always be willing to go without to see that her children did not have to.

There were many other wonderful and ornate intricacies to mom, but those stories would take much longer to tell, and if you’re reading this, you don’t have that kind of time. Because to do mom justice, to tell the story of mom’s life would take a lifetime to tell. As amazing as she was, and as much as we’d love to share it all with all of you, and to revisit and relive our moments with our mom, perhaps it’s best if we simply state what we want to say about our mom as simply and eloquently as possible in saying…. we love you mom!!!! You were the BEST mom!!! You were the ONLY mom we would have ever wanted!!! You were the only mom we ever needed. We miss you mom. I’m not going to lie, life will be more empty without you, and my heart hurts because we have lost you, but we take comfort in the fact that we will see you again one day…and we will all celebrate then.

Goodbye mom…we miss you…and of course…we love you!!!

Survived by:

Her loving children Belinda (Mark) Vigil and Michael Gentry; her cherished grandchildren Christian (Brittney) Gentry, Anthony Perez, Kiersten Perez, and Cordel Duerksen; and her wonderful great grandchildren McKinley Claire Gentry and Christopher Rutledge Gentry