Geraldine M. Corriher

Gerry was born June 10, 1925, in Salisbury, North Carolina to the late Ray Sherrill Melchor, Sr. and Winnie Florine Disher Melchor. She attended Salisbury City Schools and graduated from Granite Quarry High School in 1942 as Valedictorian. She received a scholarship to Lenoir-Rhyne College but did not use it because she wanted to make some contribution to the war effort. She took a civil service exam and was sent to Depaul University in Chicago for further study of mathematics and radio communications. She eventually worked as a civilian on special projects in the western United States which helped develop the long-range radio communication capabilities that were needed to carry out aerial assaults on Tokyo and other parts of Japan at the end of World War II.

Gerry returned to Salisbury and went to work for Southern Bell as a telephone operator. Working for the phone company turned out to be her life-long occupation. When her husband Harry Lee Corriher secured employment with the railroad in South Florida in 1974, Gerry transferred her Southern Bell employment there. When the phone company was reorganized, she was reassigned to AT&T. She retired from her job with them on March 1, 1987.

Gerry was an active and faithful member of the Lutheran Church throughout her life, first at St. John's Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, and then at St. John's Lutheran Church in Hollywood, FL. She served as an officer of Lutheran women's groups and of Church Women United groups in south Florida. After retirement she was also an active member and officer of the Telephone Pioneers, a service organization comprised of retired phone system employees.

Gerry was preceded in death by her husband, Harry Lee Corriher. They were married on October 9, 1948 and he died in 2007. She was also preceded in death by two brothers, Ray Sherrill Melchor, Jr. and Richard Melchor. She is survived by one sister, Norma Jean Melchor Dzus of West Islip, NY and two sons, Stephen Michael Corriher of Salisbury, NC, and Thomas Ray Corriher and his wife, Melba Aguado Corriher of Boca Raton, FL. Gerry has two grandsons, Jefferson Aguado, 23, of Margate, FL, and James Nelson Corriher, 8, of Boca Raton, FL. Jefferson and his wife Milagros Karen Aguado are expecting Gerry's first great-grandchild, a baby boy, in November, 2013.

Visitation hours for Gerry's family and friends will be Friday, October 11, 2013, from 5 pm to 7 pm at Fred Hunter's Funeral Home at 6301 Taft Street in Hollywood, Florida. The funeral service, conducted by Pastor Terry Danger, will be held at St. John's Lutheran Church at 2919 Van Buren Street in Hollywood, FL, on Saturday morning, October 12, 2013, at 10:30 a.m. Burial will follow at Hollywood Memorial Gardens North on 72nd Avenue just north of Sheridan Street in Hollywood. Memorials may be made to St. John's Lutheran Church, 2919 Van Buren Street, Hollywood, FL 33020 or St. John's Lutheran Church, 200 West Innes Street; Salisbury, NC 28144.