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As received from the Memorial Chapel & Plowe Funeral Homes:
Gertrude Elaine Walley passed away on October 16, 2021, on her 95th birthday. She was born October 16, 1926, in Hancock, MI to Sylvia M (Erickson) and Baden Powell Sincock.
Gertrude loved living in the Keweenaw Peninsula, where she spent the early and later years of her life. After graduation from Dollar Bay High, Gert married her high school sweetheart, Rudolph “Jack” Walley. They moved to Lansing, MI, and Gert took up homemaking and raising their two children. Upon Jack’s retirement in 1979, she and Jack moved back to their roots in Hubbell. Gert and Jack were an inseparable team. Together they cared for their elderly parents, and enjoyed fishing, hiking, and cross-country skiing. Their favorite hobby was rockhounding, and they spent endless hours along the Lake Superior shoreline near their camp at Sunset Bay and journeying into Canada. Both Gertrude and Jack loved serving the Lord and helping others.
She was preceded in death by her best friend and husband of 69 years, Rudolph (Jack) Walley, and her sister, Florence (Sincock) Hakkala, and a brother-in-law Robert Walley. She will be deeply missed by her two children and their spouses: Doug (Helen) Walley and Karen (John) Deiters; her special sister-in-law: Margaret (Peggy) Walley Chapman; her brother-in-law: Don Walley; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and her two special nieces and nephew: Susan Hakkala, Nancy (Hakkala) Martin and Gary Hakkala.
Funeral services for Gertrude will be held at 11 am Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at the Memorial Chapel Funeral Home in Hancock with Pastor Brian Lundquist to officiate. Visitation will take place at the funeral home from 10:30 am until the time of service. Private burial will take place in the Maple Hill Cemetery in Lake Linden.
In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, the family asks that donations in memory of Gertrude be made to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Hubbell or Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (littlebrothers.org).
To view this obituary or to send condolences to the family, please visit www.memorialchapel.net.
The Memorial Chapel Funeral & Cremation Services of Hancock is assisting the family with the arrangements.
