Geraldine Kauffman

Geri passed away on October 1, 2025, in Fallon, NV, after a brave battle with Alzheimer's. Geri was born on May 27,1941, in Tulare CA to Ramiro Candelaria Lopez and Betty Rhoades. She attended grade school in Tulare CA, and graduated from East Bakersfield High School in 1959. Geri met John Kauffman through her brother Robert "Bob" Lopez and John's sister Norma Kauffman. John and Geri were married on March 24, 1962, and began an adventure that carried them through California, Colorado, and ultimately to Nevada. Geri graduated from beauty school, but her greatest accomplishment was being a loving mother to six children. If you asked those who knew her, she was a mother to many more. She was a daycare provider, encircling those children with the same loving care she gave to her own. One of them, Katrina Phillips Wymore, became an honorary sister to us kids. Later in life, instead of slowing down, Geri became a barista, making delicious coffee drinks and many new friends. Her home was open to everyone, often filled with family and friends, and was a safe haven for all who needed it. She loved to embroider, garden, and smoke cigarettes while listening to talk radio, Merle Haggard, and Dodger's baseball games on the radio on her back patio. Her backyard was a garden filled with various fruits and vegetables she used to feed her family. Her boysenberry bushes were first-class, and her boysenberry cobbler was a favorite to family and friends alike. She took great pride in baking. For Christmas, she sent each of her children to school with a basket for their teacher. It was filled with any one of her homemade jams, boysenberry, strawberry, or apricot, and her delicious fudge, buckeyes, and her heavenly divinity. She loved to travel with John, and in their later years, they even climbed Machu Picchu! She dreamt of returning to Portugal and laughed until she cried, recalling their (mis)adventures there. She loved to dance and was the life of the party, always impeccably dressed. Each fall found her and John in Lake Tahoe, surrounded by their children. She loved the quaking aspens, the crisp fall air, and the slot machines! She would pack enough food to feed an army, and feed us all she did. We always looked forward to taco night. Our childhood camping trips to Carpinteria Beach were no different. Mom would always make fried chicken that she would pack into the cooler and feed to us when the ocean tired us out.

Through her actions, she consistently taught us to stand strong in the face of adversity and was a living testament to pushing forward in tough times. She was a devout Catholic, steadfast in her love for Jesus Christ and was sincere in her devotion to our blessed Mother Mary. She was never without her rosary, and taught her children to turn to Jesus and Mary in their time of need. She was surrounded by a bouquet of prayer in her final days, her family praying the rosary for and with her.

Geri was preceded in death by her loving father Ray, her mother Betty, and her brother Bob. She is survived by the love of her life, her husband of 63 years, John; her children Jenifer, Sandra (David), Stephen (Chris), Susanne (Manuel), Sarah (Dusty), and Kathryn (Kevin); her brother Donald Lopez, her sister-cousins Pam (Woody), Judy Jaime, and Dana Soria; loving nieces and nephews, adoring grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and friends too numerous to count.

A Rosary will be held on Thursday, October 16th at 6:00 pm at Christ the King Catholic Church, 1800 Bedford Way, Bakersfield CA 93308. A Mass of Catholic Burial will be held on Friday, October 17th at 10:00 am at Christ the King Catholic Church. Graveside services will be held at Greenlawn Cemetery, 3700 River Blvd, Bakersfield CA 93305. A reception will immediately follow graveside services, at Christ the King Church Hall. The Kauffman family would be honored if you joined them in celebrating Geri's life.