Adeline H. Gehring

Adeline (Lynne) H. Gehring, 98, of Allentown, and formerly of Montgomeryville, PA, died peacefully on Saturday, December 14, 2024, at Legacy Place Cottages, where she lived for the last 7 years. She was the wife of the late William P. Gehring, who died June 17, 2010. Born July 23, 1926, in Philadelphia, she was the daughter of the late Victor and Rose (Fagan) Hoffman. Mrs. Gehring was a devoted Jehovah's Witness who engaged in ministry throughout Southeast PA, including Lansdale, North Wales, Ambler, Oreland, and Doylestown. She was employed as a registered nurse for many years by various hospitals, including Riverview Osteopathic in Norristown, nursing homes, and for private duty cases. Survivors include her sons, William R. Gehring (Loretta) of Ann Arbor, MI, and Samuel V. Gehring (Dolores "Lori") of Sellersville; and four grandchildren, Justin (Meghan) of Midlothian, VA, Isaac "Zach" (Lindsay) of Ferndale, MI, Jeremy (Rachel) of Abington, PA, and Joshua {Chenele) of Coopersburg, PA, as well as nieces and nephews. Her two sisters, Geraldine, and Doris Mae, preceded her in death. The burial will be private in Washington Crossing National Cemetery, Newtown. The Huff & Lakjer Funeral Home, Lansdale, PA. is managing the arrangements. Lynne grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Girls High School in June of 1944. She studied nursing at Women's Medical College (now part of Drexel University) under the cadet nurse program during WWII. She graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1947 after the war had ended. Growing up in a household where mom was a nurse had its unique circumstances. It was impossible to fake any sickness to get out of going to school, since she knew how to use a thermometer. She could even tell if we were faking sleep since she would observe the eye bulge through the closed lids. Terminology for body parts was always in medical jargon. No one died of a heart attack. Instead, it was an MI {Myocardial Infarction}. We never drank colas, and food was always prepared from scratch. She taught us to respect women and to lift anything too heavy for a woman so as not to cause a prolapsed uterus, which might prevent her from childbearing. In 1946, when she was on a date and waiting at the bus/trolley stop at Chelten and Germantown Avenues, she happened to see a sign on the second floor of the building across the street. It read, "Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses." She filed that away for future reference since she had never heard of a Kingdom Hall or had seen the name Jehovah or the Watchtower or Awake! magazines. Later she married William (Bill) Gehring, who was also from Philadelphia. They were living in Montgomeryville with Bill's parents, William & Florence Gehring, in a house rented from Nelson X. Stout, who was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. They were waiting to move into a house that was under construction nearby on Cowpath Road. That house would become her home for the next 68 years. Lynne noticed some colorful books on her mother-in-law's shelf in the rented house. She also noticed that her mother-in-law leaves for an hour or so one afternoon every week. Later, Lynne found out that her mother-in-law was studying the Bible with Nelson and Vega Stout next door. Lynne went with her and loved the information. She asked Nelson Stout what he would say if he came to her door. Lynne thought his answer was the most wonderful thing she had ever heard living forever on a paradise earth. She loved Bill so much that the thought of death and not being together was hard for her to accept. She even wrote to her chemistry teacher telling her that she felt like Ponce de Leon. The teacher told her that she was happy that Lynne had found something that brought her happiness. Shortly after having her own Bible study, Morris Scholl came to visit Bill. Lynne answered the door and enjoyed the visit. Lynne did not know that there were meetings, so she was so excited and felt honored by the invitation. The first meeting was at 7 PM on a Sunday evening in the back of a carpentry shop. In the center was a pot belly stove and about 2 dozen mismatched straight back chairs. The radiant, happy faces of those she met there overwhelmed her. She described it as the happiest day of her life. She fondly remembered Virginia Phillips, Nelson and Vega Stout, Morris and Carrie Scholl, Noah Kramer, Veta Hagopian, Emma Waller, Pat Ingold, and the Histands. They did not always have a speaker, so they would study the Let God Be True book. Lynne felt she got the basics that way. Later, three of the women she met at the meeting visited and invited Lynne to the Thursday night meeting, which was the Theocratic Ministry School and Service Meeting. Her husband Bill thought it was only for the males. Lynne went to two meetings after which she asked Emma Waller, "Where do you sign up for service?' She also asked Nelson Stout, "Where do I get baptized and what do I need to know?" Brother Stout assured her that she did not need to know everything to get baptized. Her baptism date was August 27, 1949, in Baltimore, MD. Lynne attended the 1950 International Convention in Yankee Stadium with her two-year-old son, Bill, in tow, and eight months pregnant with her second son, Sam. She met Emma Waller there and told her that she did not understand a thing. Seats for the public talk were in short supply, so Lynne sat on an upturned milk box in an overflow tent for that part of the program. This is also the convention when Brother Franz announced that the princes were in the audience. Bill left her in first aid with pregnancy cramps so he could run out to see if Abraham, Moses, David, or others, were in the audience. The talk later identified the elders in each congregation as the princes. In 1949, the Orvilla Company (now called a congregation) moved into Lansdale to the 3rd floor of the Knights of the Golden Eagle Lodge Hall. In 1954, Lynne and Bill served with the Doylestown Congregation for about 2 years. When they returned to Lansdale, the congregation was acquiring the former Jewish synagogue on Green Street. Later she served with Bill in Ambler and later Oreland and Doylestown before moving back to Lansdale as they got older. Lynne mentioned that she stopped smoking after the visit of a Bethel Headquarters speaker who stayed with them. He said that smoking was not good, and that it would not be pleasant to have smoker's breath on a Bible Study. Bill and Lynne both stopped smoking around that time in 1951. The blood issue came up when Sam needed surgery right after his birth. Virginia Phillips casually mentioned the Bible's stand on blood. The surgery did not require blood, but it set the stage for Lynne as a nurse. Her conscience would not allow her to give doctor-ordered transfusions, so she would ask a colleague to do so on her behalf. She volunteered as a nurse for decades in the first aid department at our assemblies and conventions. 1958 was a banner year because the largest convention in one place was held in NYC at Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds. Jehovah's Witnesses came from all over the USA and drove to NYC on US Highway 202, which ran near Lynne and Bill's home in Montgomeryville and through Doylestown, where their congregation was located. The local populace could not escape seeing the stream of cars with the bumper sticker announcing the convention and/or Watchtower magazines in the back side windows, so many mentioned it for months thereafter. Lynne participated in the door-to-door canvassing to arrange rooms for the delegates. Years later, Lynne and Bill played Lydia and the Apostle Paul in the drama, "The Tested Quality of Your Faith." In 1950, while running errands in Lansdale, Lynne ran into Joan Fadeley, a friend and schoolmate whom she had not seen since they both lived near each other in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Like Lynne, she was now married and pregnant, but she had recently lost her father. Lynne invited her to sit in on her Bible study. She asked for her own Bible study and got baptized two years after Lynne. They remained good friends until Joan's death a few years ago. Lynne loved the ministry and participated in it often. When she was working, she would share her hope with others. Lynne studied the Bible with Ruth White, who was the school nurse at North Penn High School in Lansdale. Years later, when both were retired, they would take private duty nursing cases. They were both caring for an older man but had opportunity to share their hope with Gary and Karen Carver, his son and daughter-in-law. They Carvers became full-time ministers, serving at World Headquarters. While doing tree work for Bill and Lynne, Lynne encouraged Bob Woolston to pioneer because he said he wanted to do more in the ministry. He and his wife, who were both new Jehovah's Witnesses, later graduated from Gilead (missionary school) and went to Taiwan, where they were ministers in the Chinese field. Later, they were in the circuit work, visiting Chinese language congregations in the United States. Lynne had many friends and was a loving wife, mother, and friend. We say like Martha did about Lazarus: 'We know [Martha did not say 'hope, believe, or think'] Lynne [Mom] will rise in the resurrection on the last day.' (John 11:24) www.huffandlakjer.com