Kathryn Gesterling

Kathryn Gesterling, age 87, died on June 15, 2017, at the Wilmot Care Center.

Services will be held on Monday, June 19, 2017, at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Wilmot, SD, at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Peter Utecht will officiate.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service and burial will be at the Valley View Cemetery in Browns Valley, MN.

Kathryn Fay (Reil) Gesterling was born in Ortonville, MN, on July 27, 1929. She was the daughter of Walter and Lena (Thielman) Reil.

She met her future husband, Donald Gesterling, while roller-skating with her girlfriends. Soon after meeting Donald, she moved to Aberdeen, Washington, to work, but shortly after became ill. She returned home and was diagnosed with polio in 1948.

After recovering from polio, she went to Springfield, Illinois, where she worked with license plates while her future husband attended Concordia Seminary.

Kathryn was united in marriage with Donald Gesterling on June 17, 1951. They worked for a short while together as maid and butler to a wealthy couple in Traverse City, Michigan, during a summer.

With Donald’s work as a Missouri Synod Lutheran minister, Kathryn and Donald lived in several communities including: Hecla, SD from 1955-57; Harrold and Blunt, SD from 1957-64; Wecota, Cresbard, and Faulkton, SD from 1964-70, Arlington, NE from 1970-75; Doland and Redfield, SD from 1975-84; and finally in Waterville and Elysian, MN from 1984-1990.

Kathryn and Donald moved to Virginia Beach, VA, in October of 2009 to live with their daughter and son-in-law.

After Donald’s passing on July 12, 2011, Kathryn moved to the Wilmot Care Center.

Kathryn is survived by her children: Donna Fannon of Saint Marys, OH, and Sherlyn (William) Logan of Virginia Beach, VA; three grandchildren: John White, Nicole Miller, Joshua Miller of Virginia Beach, VA; two great-grandchildren: Brent and Lucas Mitchell of Virginia Beach, VA; sister Karen (Jerry) Riedel of Watertown, SD; and sister-in-law, Ruth Schulze of Maplewood, MN.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Donald Gesterling.