Gary Criddle

Gary Criddle

Cedar Rapids

Every day of the last 50 years, our parents have started their day reading the obituaries in the Gazette and today you may be starting yours by reading our Dad’s. His plan was for his not to be in print for another 20 years but he was peaceful knowing that God had a different timeline. Although he wanted nothing more than to celebrate his 80th with his family on Aug. 7, 2022, he passed from this earthly life just short of that on Wednesday, July 6 2022.

Gary’s family will greet friends and family on Friday at New Covenant Bible Church from 4 to 7 p.m. A funeral service will be held at on Saturday at 10 a.m. at New Covenant Bible Church. Burial: Oak Shade Cemetery. Teahen Funeral Home is serving Gary’s family.

Throughout his brief, but valiant battle with brain cancer, he never complained nor lost his infectious optimism. A lifelong Pretzel, John Gary, was born Aug. 7, 1942, at Freeport Memorial Hospital (Illinois) as the eldest child of Jack and Marge (McCoy) Criddle and raised on his family’s dairy farm. He loved to share memories of long days of hard work that often ended with batting practice after supper into the right field he mowed into the pasture (and thus his younger siblings had no other option than to become lefties like “the Mick”).

Following high school, he graduated from UW-Whitewater and then served two years in the Army during the Vietnam conflict before marrying his “Sweet Betty Lou” Sorensen in 1970. They made SE Cedar Rapids their home and it has continued to be for almost 52 years. Gary and Betty daughters, Kerstin, Katie and Karoline, were lovingly brought up on Forest Drive. The next stop was 25 years on Linden Terrace and recently relocated into the condo of their dreams.

Whatever he did, whether it was mortgage banking, slow pitch softball, weekly golf groups, rotisserie baseball, church choirs, playing cards, or Handel’s Messiah, he did BIG . Family was his top priority; being a Dad and a Papa came naturally to him.

He made everything an adventure, from trips to Bever Park to feeding the squirrels to any errand for which he “needed” a helper. He was our biggest fan. We were all “perfect” in his eyes and he never missed a chance to say, “love ya.”

Those grateful to have shared his life are: Betty, his wife of nearly 52 years; three daughters, Kerstin (Thad) Harker of Cedar Rapids, Katie (Scott) Murray of Winfield, Ill., and Karoline (Lee) Rozeboom of Cedar Rapids; his nine “perfect” grandchildren, Hank

and Haddie Harker, Amelia, Scotty, Mac and Sam Murray, Lulu, Teddy and Tillie Rozeboom; his mom, Margery Louise Criddle of Freeport, Ill.; his siblings, Mary Ann (Gordon) Akey, Randy (Terry) Criddle and Dean Criddle; sister-in-law, Letha (Don) Petersen; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his dad, John Samuel (Jack) Criddle, in June of 2021.

Online condolences may be left for the family at www.teahenfuneralhome.com.