Gertrude Church Cushing's Obituary
Gertrude Cushing passed away in the comfort of her home on August 16, 2018 in Santa Cruz, California. She was born in Ryan, Iowa to Thomas Henry and Nora Behan Church. Both parents were Irish and came from Waterford, Ireland. Gertrude was proud of her Irish Catholic heritage. She grew up and graduated from High School in South Dakota and went on to Briar Cliff University in Iowa, at the age of 16. Due to the devastating “Dust Bowl” in the 1930’s, her parents picked her up at the end of her first College year. They moved to Searchlight, Nevada for a short time and then to California.Gertrude worked in Southern California. During WW II, she met her late husband Joseph (deceased 1989) while he was a Captain in the US Marine Corps. When Joe came back from the South Pacific they got married and moved to his family home in Hastings, Nebraska where the first two sons (John and James) were born. A couple years later, a third son, Thomas was born in Iowa. The family soon moved to California, first to Vallejo then to San Carlos, where Joe worked as a Manager at several Corporations and Gertrude raised the family and worked at various jobs in the Electronic Industry, including Stanford Research.One of Gertrude’s proudest moments was when she obtained her Bachelors Degree at Notre Dame University in Belmont. Upon graduation, she began working at the California Employment Development Office where she met many good friends. Gertrude traveled the world after retiring and met many great friends including those in Santa Cruz. In the last decade, she spent nearly full time in Santa Cruz. Along the way she was involved in many social clubs, dancing and hosting bridge parties in her home. She also was active in politics and enjoyed volunteering.Gertrude is survived by her sons, (the brothers), John, Jim and Tom, grandchildren, Lisa Cushing Mitchell, Christina Cushing Thorup and Cynthia Cushing, 5 great grandchildren as well as many nieces and nephews.The family would like to thank all her many loving caregivers, religious supporters and friends.A visitation will be held at 8:30 a.m.- 9:30 a.m. and a Funeral Mass will immediately follow at The Shrine of St. Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer Catholic Church, 544 W. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz on August 28, 2018. Burial after the service will be at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo. She will rest next to her husband Joseph, in the majestic setting of the Veterans Memorial.
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