Gwendolyn Yoesel

Gwendolyn B. Yoesel, 69, passed away on Monday, Dec. 22 at the Santa Marta Skilled Nursing Center after several years of Alzheimers. Gwen was born on July 29, 1939 in Jackson, Mississippi to Church of the Nazarene Pastor Reverend JW and Ethel Blackmon. Gwen and her two surviving sisters, Edna and Joyce, started singing as small girls, and all three could play the piano and organ. They sang in several churches all around the country. As a pastors daughter, she graduated from Matthew Fontaine Maury High School in Norfolk, Virginia in 1957. She was a ministers wife before moving to Memphis, Tennessee where she was the Executive Secretary to the President of Schering Plough Pharmaceutical Company.

On June 10, 1989, she married Gerald Yoesel, who had lost his first wife to cancer. Gwen became the Regional Sales Manager for Schering Plough before retiring in 1993. She was an active member of the College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, where she served several years as Missionary President and she and Gerald took several volunteer mission trips to Thailand, Russia and Germany, also enjoying several cruises, and many trips throughout the United States.

Gwen is survived by her two sons, Dan and Andy Erickson, the five Yoesel stepchildren; Rene, Robert, Brenda, Denise and Michael, and a combined total of fourteen grandchildren.

Gwen was a devout Christian lady and everyone knows that she is now in heaven, and all the suffering is over. On Saturday, January 3, 2009, a visitation will be held at 10:00 a.m., followed by a memorial service at 11:00 a.m. at the College Church of the Nazarene, 2020 E. Sheridan, Olathe.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be given to the Yoesel Pre-Med Scholarship Fund at Mid-America Nazarene Univeristy, where God could give someone the knowledge for the cure of cancer and Alzheimers. Contributions may also be given to the Alzheimers Association.