Geraldine Marie Evenson's Obituary
Geraldine Marie “Gerry” Evenson — known to her family as “Gee” — 91, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, passed away on April 16, 2026, surrounded by her family and in the care of the Bellarose community where she and Jerry had made their home in later years.
She was born on July 1, 1934, in Streator, Illinois, the middle of three children of Clarence Rudolph Flesburg and Vera Loretta (Hylin) Flesburg. After her father’s early death, her mother raised the three siblings on the family’s 160-acre farm near Wenona, Illinois.
Gerry earned her degree at Northern Illinois State Teachers College (now Northern Illinois University) in DeKalb, Illinois, and taught bookkeeping professionally. She met Jerry Edwin Evenson during summer 1955 while both worked in the Canyon Hotel dining room at Yellowstone National Park. They married on August 23, 1958, and were married for 65 years until Jerry’s death in February 2024.
Gerry and Jerry made their first home in Wisconsin Rapids, where their two children — Missy (1964) and Erik (1966) — were born. Jerry’s petroleum-industry career moved the family across seven states over the years — Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Oklahoma, and Utah — before they settled for the long final chapter in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Through all those moves, Gerry was the heart of the household — raising Missy and Erik, building a new home and a new circle of friends in each new town, and holding the family’s life steady across every relocation. Her cross-stitching, sewing, and crossword puzzles were always close at hand. After Jerry retired in the early 1990s, the two of them traveled extensively around the world and enjoyed the long retirement chapter they had worked hard for. Gerry was a lifelong Lutheran.
She is survived by daughter Missy Starkey and her husband Robert; son Erik Evenson and his wife Liza; granddaughter Allison Starkey and her fiancée Shelby; grandson Drew Starkey and his wife Brittany; great-granddaughters Paisley Starkey and Tatum Starkey; brother-in-law Dr. Timothy Evenson and his wife Karen; brother-in-law Lt. Col. (Ret.) Richard Cutforth; nieces and nephews Larry Flesburg, Laurel (Flesburg) Niska and her husband Dennis, Richard Cutforth II and his wife Jan, Charles Cutforth and his wife Dina, Michelle (Cutforth) Wells and her husband Derek, Mitch Even son and his wife Lynn, Luther Brown and his wife Sharon, Mark Brown, and Debbie (Brown) Dirisamer and her husband Pete; and numerous great-nieces, great-nephews, and cousins.
She was preceded in death by husband of 65 years Jerry Edwin Evenson, father Clarence Rudolph Flesburg, mother Vera Loretta (Hylin) Flesburg, brother Theodore “Ted” Flesburg and his wife Janice “Jan” (Reed) Flesburg, sister Mary Ann (Flesburg) Cutforth, aunt Gertrude (Flesburg) Peterson and her husband Paul Peterson, sister in-law Edwyna “Eddie” (Evenson) Brown and her husband Rev. Harold “Hal” Brown, niece Heidi Evenson, and great-niece Ashley Evenson.
Memorial
• A family memorial service is pending at Floral Haven Cemetery.
• Memorial contributions may be designated to Fellowship Lutheran Church, 6727 S Sheridan Rd, Tulsa, OK 74133.
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