Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
SUN CITY, Calif. –– (Cora) Eileen Hampston Jellum Gerwick, 94, died peacefully on Dec. 14, 2016, at home in Sun City.
She was the daughter of Quinlan and Cora Hampston, of Mansfield Street in Ironwood, Mich., born July 18, 1922.
Eileen graduated from St. Ambrose High School with the class of 1940. In 1944, she received her RN from Sherman Hospital School of Nursing in Elgin, Ill., and then went on to serve in World War II in the Army Nurses Corps from March, 1945, until May, 1946. Eileen was one of three Hampston siblings who served in the U.S. military during the war.
Eileen and her first husband, Harold Jellum, were the parents of one daughter, Paula, born in Houston, Texas. The family spent spent most of their years together living in small cities in southern California. After Harold's death, Eileen moved to La Crescenta to be close to her work.
It was in La Crescenta where Eileen met and married her second husband, Jim Gerwick. The marriage was brief. Gerwick died after just two years, in the mid-1980s.
Eileen is survived by her daughter, Paula Jellum Basquez; and three grandchildren, Amber Lyn, Francisco Harold and Nicholas Paul Escorpiso. She also leaves six great-grandchildren, Alexis, Jasmine and Michael Beltran, and Leilani, Harmony and Francisco E. Escorpiso. Additional family members include a number of nieces and nephews living in Ironwood, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and California.
Eileen was the last of her generation in the Hampston family of Ironwood. Sisters Betty, Fran, Peggy and Patsy; and brothers John and Quin preceded her in death.
A Mass celebrating Eileen's life was held at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, Sun City, on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
A memorial service and burial will be held in Ironwood in the spring of 2017.
