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Mary Gerst
MARY GERST
Cedar Rapids
Mary L. Taber Zaspal Gerst, 93, formerly of Cedar Rapids and Anamosa, died Friday, Nov. 21, 2014, at Iowa Masonic Health Facilities in Bettendorf. Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25, at St. Ludmila Catholic Church, Cedar Rapids, with interment in St. John Cemetery. Friends may call after 10 a.m. Tuesday at the church, where a time of food and fellowship will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Goettsch Funeral Home, Anamosa, is in charge of the arrangements.
Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at www.goettschonline.com.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Iowa Masonic Health Care Facilities.
Surviving are four sons, Louis Zaspal, Michael Zaspal, Frank Zaspal and Timothy (Maureen) Zaspal; seven grandchildren, John, Bryan, Tim Jr., Paul, Tim and Dan Zaspal and Lisa Cook; two great-grandchildren; a son-in-law, Paul McDonnell; and two sisters, Katherine Heasty and Linda Roling.
She was preceded in death by her parents; two husbands, Louis and Fred; a daughter, Jackie McDonnell; a daughter-in-law, Helen Zaspal; and two sisters, Francis Weers and Alta Marie Taber.
Mary Lucille Taber was born Aug. 26, 1921, in DuQuoin, Ill., the daughter of Howard and Delores DeNio Taber. Mary graduated from the Anamosa Community Schools. She received her teaching certificate from Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls. She taught in Mounce School No. 10 near Center Point. Mary later became a buyer at Killian's in Cedar Rapids. She was married to Louis Zaspal from 1940 until his death in 1963.
Mary taught new math at St. Ludimila Catholic School. On July 12, 1965, Fred Gerst and Mary L. Taber Zaspal were united in marriage in Cedar Rapids. The couple lived in Chicago and Kansas City until 1973, when they moved to Bettendorf.
While in Chicago, Mary taught at the Queen of Apostles School in Riverdale, Ill.
Mary had belonged to St. Ludmilla's Rosary Society, was a religious education teacher at Lourdes in Bettendorf and an active volunteer for the Red Cross and the Bix Festival.
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