Layton Gerch, 85, of Sioux City passed away Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, at a Sioux City hospital.
Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, with the Rev. Dan Guenther officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8:30 p.m. today, with a vigil service at 7:30 p.m., at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent online to
www.christysmith.com
.
George Layton Gerch was born April 4, 1924, in Bancroft, Neb., to William and Hattie (Stafford) Gerch. He attended and graduated from high school in Rosalie, Neb., with the class of 1942. He served in the U.S. Army from April 1945 to August 1945.
Layton and Margaret Rozendal were married in 1947, in Wayne, Neb. He worked for ITI Trucking and Sioux Transportation as an over-the-road truck driver, retiring from in 1985. The couple then purchased Highlander Center Laundromat. They owned and operated the business until 1995, when they sold it to their daughter.
He was a member of the teamsters and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. They had a camper and loved to travel, taking his dogs with them. They spent the winters in Florida.
He is survived by his wife, Margaret of Sioux City; a daughter and her husband, Carol and Charles Happe of Sioux City; a son and his wife, Tom and Peg Gerch of Lincoln, Neb.; a daughter and her husband, Peg and Dave Stara of Bruno, Neb.; a daughter and her husband, Mary and Randy Murkins of Sioux City; a son and his wife, Tim and Ann Gerch of Lincoln; a daughter-in-law, Justine Gerch of Lincoln; 17 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and special friends, Don and Marian Harrison of Lawton, Iowa.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a son, Terry; a grandson, Christopher Gerch; and a sister, Phyllis Mae Gerch.
Memorials may be directed to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.