Wanda Gene Gernerd

Wanda Gene (Gresh) Gernerd, 84, of Oley passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by her family, on Wednesday, July 16, 2014.

Born in Reading and raised in Boyertown, she was the widow of Alan Gernerd and the daughter of the late Augustus and Viola (Meeth) Gresh.

Upon graduating from Boyertown High School, she received her Bachelor's Degree from Penn State University, where she majored in Music and was always a Penn State football fan. She also received her Master's Degree in Elementary Education from Kutztown State University. She taught elementary school music and was a reading specialist in the Antietam School District for 25 years.

Wanda enjoyed accompanying her husband to National Science Teachers Conferences across the country and the family spent 3 summers at western Universities in Colorado and Montana on teaching instruction certification grants. She also enjoyed traveling to Chincoteague, Virginia every summer with her children and grandchildren, helping cook-the-catch, picking crabs, and enjoying the shore birds and the lighthouse. She did a lot of canning and loved to cook wonderful meals for her family, often using a wide variety of produce from her garden.

She taught the Pennsylvania Dutch summer school enrichment program for the youth in the Oley area for many years and was honored in 2005 at the Oley Valley Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch Fersammling for her leadership in education and music. She was an avid cross-stitcher, creating over 100 pieces and heirlooms for her family and baptismal cloths for children of Friedens Lutheran Church of Oley.

Wanda is survived by her four children and their spouses: Deborah (Bill) Buckfelder of Palmyra; Kurt (Pam) Gernerd of Purcellville, VA; Eric (Peggy) Gernerd of Oley and Alisa (Mark) Brumbach of Oley and she was a loving grandmother of eleven grandchildren : Adam (Tamara) and Scott (Kelley) Buckfelder; Erin (Mike), Yvonne (Justin), Kurt II, Karen and Sarah Gernerd; Ethan and Graham Gernerd; and Lauren and Courtney Brumbach; and great- grandmother of Gryphon Michael.

Viewing will begin at 10am and funeral services will be held at 11 am on Saturday, July 19, 2014, at Friedens Lutheran Church, 1076 Memorial Highway (Rt. 73), Oley, PA, 19547. Burial and graveside services will follow at Friedens Cemetery, Oley.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Friedens Lutheran Church Memorial Fund at the above address.

Kuhn- Stitzel Funeral Homes and Crematory, Inc., 423 Main Street, Oley is in charge of arrangements. To send a condolence online, please go to www.kuhnstitzelfuneralhomes.com.