Genevieve Reinart

Genevieve was the fifth and last daughter of Peter and Mary Reinart. She was born on 10 February 1920 on a farm four and a half miles southeast of Halbur, Iowa. When she was eight years old her parents moved the family to a house high on the hill overlooking Halbur. She grew up jumping rope, playing ball, and hanging by her legs to a trapeze. She went to St. Augustine's Catholic School in Halbur, and had lots of friends. After graduating from 8th grade, she hoped to attend high school in nearby Carroll, but was denied entrance by her parents, who reminded her that none of her older sisters had enjoyed such an opportunity. So instead of attending school, she spent her late teen years working on the farms of her sisters.
In 1937 Genevieve met and married Lawrence Gehling. She wore a black dress to the marriage ceremony. The dress had long chiffon sleeves and red brocaded flowers. Her black hat was velvet. After a day-long honeymoon, the young couple moved from farm to farm and from small town to small town in western Iowa. Genevieve gave birth to seven children over the years: Lois, Richard, Donald, Constance, Bonita, Thomas, and Charles. Before the last of her children left home, Genevieve began working as a cleaning lady for various families around Gilmore City, Iowa. She later worked at a retirement home in Pocahontas, Iowa. After the death of her husband Lawrence in 1982, Genevieve moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to be near her children. She took up landscape painting and began piecing together quilts and embroidering pillowcases. Today she lives with her oldest daughter, Lois, on the eastern edge of Colorado Springs.