Geraldine Louise Hales

     Geraldine Louise Hales (Jerry) was born in St. Louis, Missouri on December 10, 1930, where she spent her earliest years. She moved to Arizona for her elementary schooling and graduated from Glendale Union High School. She spent a year in Japan after WWll, and after high school she joined the Women’s Army Corp where she made many lifelong friends. After her Army service, she married Charles (aka Buddy, Red, Chuck) Buthod, and together had 2 daughters, Victoria Dean and Terry Leigh. Jerry and Red were entrepreneurs.  They ran a hotel and bar in Bisbee, Arizona where they did the cooking, cleaning and bartending.  They went hunting and fishing together and were lifelong friends.  After their business venture, Jerry decided to go to college and entered nursing school at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Her career took her to various nursing positions, always moving towards leadership. She taught at Arizona State College in Flagstaff, Arizona and then decided to pursue a Master’s of Science degree in nursing at UCLA.  She then returned to teach at Northern Arizona University. The next period in her career took her to nursing positions in Texas, Nevada, and finally California where she was Administrator of Patient Care Services in Berkeley.  She was fiercely intelligent and a force of nature.  When told that what she planned to accomplish could not be done, she said, “Watch me!” and went on to accomplish her goals and vision for her hospital.  She later returned to finish her professional career teaching at Northern Arizona University.  Throughout her life, she travelled with friends to destinations in Europe, and Mexico as well as Alaska.  She loved to drive her RV and experienced the world through camping. Upon her retirement from her career, at age 65, she bought a 40-acre ranch in Snowflake, Arizona, where she raised a few cattle, pigs and sheep.  She also planted an orchard on the sparse, hard, windblown high desert.  After satisfying her desire to live the ranch life, she returned to live in her home in Flagstaff, Arizona, and ultimately moved to South Bend, Indiana to live with family. 

     Jerry Hales served in the WAC, owned a business, cooked, bartended, became a nurse and ultimately a hospital administrator.  She was a voracious reader, a talented writer and she loved music.  She modeled for all of us how to live life to its fullest and be not afraid.  Most of all, she loved deeply.  She loved her daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren, great grandchildren and she loved her friends. Jerry passed away peacefully on September 8, 2025, after a life fully lived.

     Geraldine is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Vikki and John Wojcik, and Terry and Gary Holmes, her grandchildren Dawn, Brandon, Christopher, Shannon & Tim, John Jr. & Jenny and her great grandchildren Makayla, Beatrice, and Tru- and of course those friends and family who are still with us.

     A visitation will be held on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at 11:00 AM, in Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 121 County Rd 402, Loose Creek, MO 65054. Mass will begin at 12:00 PM, also in Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Burial to follow in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery. 

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