Geraldine Marie Connolly

Geraldine (Geri) Marie Kubena Wietkoswki Connolly passed away peacefully in her sleep on January 22, 2020. She was affectionately called by the nickname Geri. She was 97 years old. She was born on farm near Hallettsville, Texas on February 21, 1922. She was the first of four children for Marie Burger Kubena and Adolf Frank Kubena. Her father was a sharecropper so they moved around. Geri learned to read at 4 years old, and started a love affair with books. Geri read the bible and loved Jesus Christ. She read every day until she passed. She also learned to sew. That was one of her passions. Geri created garments out of necessity when she was young. In later years, she prepared many garments for those she loved. Geri was a seamstress and helped many people with their clothes to achieve that special look. The Kubena family moved to a farm in Knickerbocker, Texas when she was about 5 or 6. Geri did farm chores such as milk a cow and churn butter. She plowed a field and learned how pick cotton.

Education was important to her. She walked a few miles to school in lower levels of school. Geri had to have a carriage ride to go high school in a bigger town. She received her high school degree. Geri married Elmer Richard (Curly) Wietkoswki in San Angelo in 1940. She had 2 sons, Richard and Carroll. Geri and Curly moved to Spring Branch in 1947. They were very involved with their church. Geri loved the church and Jesus Christ. When she was unable to go to church any longer, she watched sermons on television. Geri read her bible and did her own bible study. Curly died in a freak accident in 1969. She was a young widow so spent time with her family and her church.

She remarried again in 1984 to John Connolly. They left Houston to reside in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida. She wrote quite often to her family about all the beauty that was around her in every state she visited. Their last stop was California where John had a stroke. Geri and John moved back to Houston, TX, and she cared for him until he passed away in 2001.

Geri loves her church and her family. She volunteered at a local thrift shop run by the church until she was 88 years old. Geri lived with her granddaughter and great- grandchildren until three weeks before she passed. She was joking with the nurses that morning. Then she closed her eyes and the nurses found her an hour later. Geri lived every day to the fullest. She loved to laugh and tell jokes. She loved nature and gardening. Geri possessed a sharp and witty mind. She knew everything that was going on in the world. Geri knew the name of every plant and how to take care of it. She will be missed.

Geri loved her friends. They preceded her in death Agnes Nygren, Cluster Vojia, Edith Isabell, Billie Sebeck, and Sigrid Beall. Her beloved animals, Mai Ling, her Siamese cat and Kenai, her beloved Dachshund.

Family who preceded Geri in death were her parents, Adolf and Marie Kubena, brothers, James and Harvey Kubena, brother–in-law, John Rettig, and her beloved son, Carroll.

Her surviving family is Josephine Rettig, her sister. Her nephew, Jack Rettig, and her great niece, Laural. Her Son, Richard D. Wietkoswki, and his wife, Laveta, Her Daughter-in-law, Mary Sue Wietkoswki, Her grandchildren, Stephanie Wietkoswki, Leslie (Les) Wietkoswki and his wife Denise (Dee Dee), Melissa Crawford, Kathryn Wiggins, her great-grandchildren, Devin B. Jones, Kevin C. Jones, Katie Wheat, Weston Wheat, her great–great grandchild, Jackson Ayala.

There were so many people who she loved and lost; it is hard to list them all.