Gerri Reinke

ROCK VALLEY, IOWA ~ Gerri Reinke, 89, of Rock Valley, passed away on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Whispering Heights in Rock Valley.

   Funeral Service will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 14, 2025, at First Reformed Church in Rock Valley with Rev. Cliff Hoekstra officiating. Burial will follow at Valley View Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Friday at the Porter Funeral Home in Rock Valley.

   Gerri Reinke, daughter of Jan “John” and Maria (Timmer) Van Olst, was born February 15, 1936, at Hierden, the Netherlands. Gerri immigrated from the Netherlands to Sheldon, Iowa in 1954. She worked in a nursing home in Sibley, Iowa. In 1959, she moved to Rock Valley, Iowa and worked in her father’s bakery until she and her husband (Richard Loveless) bought the bowling alley. Gerri was famous for the soups she made in addition to the normal items found in a café. Area salesmen, as well as locals, planned lunches around stopping by the bowling alley for a burger and a bowl of soup. Following the sale of the bowling alley she worked at Kooima Manufacturing for a short while. Her work there allowed her to develop her arm muscles to a point that allowed her to regularly beat her teenage son in arm wrestling. Gerri went back to the bowling alley to work a couple of years until she married Raymond Reinke. This allowed her to retire and take care of her mother and ultimately Ray when he encountered some medical issues. Ray passed away May 8, 2012. Gerri later moved to Whispering Heights in Rock Valley.

   Gerri is survived by her son John (Cindy) Loveless of Henderson, Nevada; stepson, David (Deb) Reinke of Rock Valley; 6 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; brother, John Van Olst; and sisters, Eileen DeJong, Gertrude (Dennis) Overweg, and Lucy Ymker.

   She was preceded in death by his parents; husband, Raymond; brother, Lambert Van Olst; sister, Maria (Daryl) Addink; brothers-in-law, Fred Ymker and Charlie DeJong; and sisters-in-law, Marita (Van Olst) Rotella and Wympje Gertrude Van Olst.