Obituary for Linda Gehrke

Linda Gehrke (Knudsen), age 77, passed away peacefully June 17, 2024. She was born August 29, 1946 in Alexandria, Minnesota to Egon and Anna Knudsen. Unfortunately she lost her mom when she was just six, but her dad remarried Fairy, a loving school teacher from Spicer, MN Then after an odd chance meeting in the local hardware store she reconnected with her school sweetheart, Ralph Gehrke. They were married March 16, 1962 and raised three daughters.

She became a well-loved daycare provider in Maple Grove, MN. She turned her love of children into a career where her family grew one daycare family at a time. The babies she helped raise often came back years later to show her the cars they purchased, their boyfriends (for her approval), and to showoff babies of their own.

Linda joins her mothers, Anna & Fairy; father, Egon; sisters, Barb & Kate; brother, Jack; and grandchild; Ethan; among others.

She is survived by her husband, Ralph; daughters, Theresa (Dean Carr), Angela (Mark) Solway and Dini (Greg) Sullivan; her brother, Leonard Hawes; her grandchildren, KaSondra (Josh) Blue, Lukus (Sam) Hedden, April Solway (Jon Christoffer), Tiffany (Ben) Shiek, Anna Kubiszewski, and Charlie Sullivan; her 18 great grandchildren, Faith, Bradley, Emma, Nina, Colton, Aiden, Aly, Cash, Lizy, Joshlyne, Atley, Kasidee, Aekley, Mary, Julien, Kendric, Korven; several family members, daycare families, and friends.

A Celebration of Linda's life will be held from 10 AM to 12 noon on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at Evans-Nordby Funeral Home, 34 2nd St. NE, Osseo. Interment at a later date in Spicer, MN.