Geraldine Timmermann

Geraldine Timmermann, age 94, passed away peacefully on September 24, 2023 after a brief illness. She was born on December 28, 1928 in Marlin, Texas to Clara Mortimer and Arthur Cunningham and grew up in Rosebud, Texas. After graduating from Rosebud High School, she attended Draughon’s Business College in San Antonio. It was in her early days there, that she met her best friend for life, Hache. Gerry was married to John Charlton from 1949 to 1956 and during this time had her first son, David (Larry) Charlton. She worked at the San Antonio Board of Realtors for several years. She then moved to Austin in the North Loop area and worked for the State of Texas in the Aeronautics Division. She traded at North Loop Pharmacy and eventually worked there, meeting the love of her life and husband of almost 50 years, Terrell Timmermann. She loved working with Terrell at the pharmacy and they had many great times working long hours and hanging out at the soda fountain with life-long friends like JD and Imogene Harper and Rayford and Avalee Walker. Terrell and Gerry went on to start a successful apartment rental company, owning houses, duplexes, and apartments. Gerry always prided herself on the fact that Terrell was the brain, and she was the brawn. She embodied the definition of hands-on and hardworking and would perform any task at any hour of the day. Their hands-on approach was successful and allowed them to expand into purchasing farmland, often in areas ripe for growth and future commercial development.

Gerry was passionate about her family. To her, that was two families: her immediate family and her family at Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ (previously Brentwood Church of Christ). She joined the church in 1955 and had many deep-rooted friendships and a life-long devotion to Christ. She attended church almost every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night for as many years as there were services. She loved her home group Bible classes and loved nothing more than being part of the Mexican train ladies, who played dominos every Tuesday for many years and to this day. After Terrell passed away and she was in the hospital with a broken hip, her social network from the church allowed her to thrive. She proudly lived alone and drove herself to get around until late August of this year.

Gerry loved spending time with her grandchildren and great grandchild. She would play cards with them, build pillow towers, and always had a stash of cookies on hand. Even in her later years, she had the energy to play trucks with the newest family additions. She was immensely proud of all of them and loved celebrating all their accomplishments. It was her undeniable warmth, courage, strength and kindness unto others that has played a huge role in them becoming the people they are or the people they will be.

While being the toughest person most people know and having a feisty, firey personality, Gerry’s greatest legacy is her compassion. She cared about others and would help many people through hard times. Her stack of charitable mail was immense and she loved her charities like St. Jude’s, MD Anderson, Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ and countless others. But, her favorite charity and her passion was Brentwood Christian School. She made a very real difference in the growth and success of the school and passionately gave so that those with less financial means could have an opportunity to attend a first-class Christian school, and teachers at the school could receive better wages.

Geraldine is predeceased by her husband, Terrell Timmermann and her parents, Arthur Cunningham and Clara Cunningham Trojan and her sister Joyce Tressler. She is survived by her sons David Lawrence Charlton and wife Deborah, and Barth Timmermann and wife Marie. She is also survived by her beloved grandchildren Madison Molly Charlton (Dylan Kelley), Colin Terrell Timmermann, Aidan James Timmermann and Gavin Daniel Timmermann as well as her great grandchild August Grey Kelley. She is also survived by her brother Joseph Cunningham of Phoenix, Arizona.

A very special thank you to the amazing staff at the Heart Hospital of Austin and the caring and nurturing staff at Visiting Angels.

A visitation for Geraldine will be held Monday, October 2, 2023 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ, 11908 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78753. A funeral service will follow Monday, October 2, 2023 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, 11908 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78753. A graveside service will occur Monday, October 2, 2023 from 1:00 PM to 1:15 PM at Austin Memorial Park, 2800 Hancock Dr., Austin, TX 78731.

Serving as pallbearers are Theodore Barac, Michael Farley, Bob King, Mark Shipp, Keith Stanglin and Terry Wolfe.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Brentwood Christian School.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com for the Timmermann family.