Geraline Stokes Houston

Geraline “Gerri” Stokes Houston

January 25, 1936 - April 11, 2025

Gerri Houston was a loving, creative, wise and spiritual woman who firmly believed that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. She went to be with Jesus on Friday, April 11, 2025.

“Strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come.”

Gerri was born in the home of her parents in the Arial textile mill community in Easley, SC. Being a child raised in the The Great Depression she learned to be resilient and self-reliant and grew into a capable and creative woman. She embodied the woman described in Proverbs 31:10-29 who is a loving wife and mother, a productive business woman who is mentally and physically strong and uses her creative talents to enrich the lives of her family and her hometown.

In her professional life she was an entrepreneur, who, in partnership with her husband Jack, owned two retail stores. She was a mentor to other business owners and an artist who delighted in sharing her creative spark with dozens of community members she taught to paint, make baskets, macrame, sew dolls and other creative projects at her store on Main Street in Easley, SC. Before that she helped run the Pickens County Council on Aging Easley Senior Center, doing everything from bookkeeping to organizing trips, making curtains and helping seniors get practical help with everyday problems. She volunteered as a Girl Scout Troop leader and Sunday school teacher and organized downtown Easley festivals.

Gerri instilled in her family a sense of adventure and curiosity about the world in which they lived. Family vacations became chances to explore history and culture of the destinations. She was an avid reader. She loved to watch the news and discuss current events. She fostered that same love in her daughter who is forever grateful for the impact of this on her life and career choice to be a journalist.

Gerri was greatly loved and will be missed by family and friends. She is survived by her daughter, Sonya Houston (Elizabeth Stevens), her brother, Jay Stokes (Shirley), her sister Patricia Booty (Noah Jean) and dozens of nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her husband, Jack Houston, her infant daughter, LaDonna Houston, her father, John Stokes, the mother who gave her life, Ruth Rackley Stokes, who died when Gerri was a baby, the mother who raised her, Myrtie Cantrell Stokes and her sister, Muriel Hester (J.D.).

Funeral services will be held Thursday, April 17 at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Easley at 2pm. The family will receive friends from 1pm to 1:45pm at the church. Interment will follow the service at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Pickens.

In her later years, when Gerri was not able to travel, reading books allowed her to go anywhere in the world. In lieu of flowers the family would ask that memorials be made to the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Library 304 Biltmore Road, Easley, SC. 29640.

Visit RobinsonFuneralHome.com or Robinson Funeral Home & Crematory-Downtown, Easley, SC.