Roberta L. Gingerich

Memorial services for Roberta L. Gingerich, 88, Lawrence, will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, February 9, 2013, at First United Methodist Church in Lawrence. She died on Monday, February 4, 2013 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Roberta was born on April 27, 1924 in Oklahoma City, OK, the daughter of Robert William and Ona (Peeler) Crow.
She attended Oklahoma City public schools and Oklahoma City University. She received a B.A. degree in English/Theater from Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS in 1971. She became the Associate Director of the Kansas Humanities Council and later was an instructor in English as a second language for Johnson County Community College.
She was always active in various community, school and church organizations. She worked as an administrative secretary in school and church settings. She was a Y-teen program director in Columbus, OH, for the YWCA, and served with her husband at the Tokyo Union Church, an international, interdenominational congregation in Tokyo, Japan.
Her avocational pursuits were in fields of theater, music and the arts, and world citizenship. She hosted countless numbers of international students and maintained a world- wide correspondence.
She was a member of the First United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women, the Celebration of Cultures, the International Host Family Program, and the Hiratsuka Sister City Program.
Roberta was married to The Reverend Dr. John C. Gingerich on June 6, 1943 in Oklahoma City, OK. He survives of the home.
Other survivors include two daughters, Harriet Gingerich Caplan, and husband, Lou, Hays, KS, Robin Gingerich, and husband, Tom Mersmann, Lawrence; one son, John C. Gingerich, Jr., Kansas City, MO; two grandchildren, Michael Hazel, and wife, Diane, Washington D.C., Sara Hazel and husband, Dan Goldhamer, Denver, CO; and one sister, Wilma A. Wine, and husband, Joe, Sedono, AZ.
The family will greet friends following the service.
The family suggests memorials in her name to the KUEA/University Theatre, KCPT, or Habitat for Humanity and may be sent in care of the mortuary.
Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com.
Please sign this guestbook at Obituaries.LJWorld.com.