September 6, 1929 – March 5, 2023

Gerald R. “Corky” Gerhard, 93, of Slater, died Sunday, March 5, 2023, at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia.

Funeral services will be Saturday, March 11, 2023, at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Slater, with Terry Jordan and the Rev. Paul List officiating. Burial will be in New Frankfort Cemetery, with J.P.

Gerhard, Graham Fizer, Abram Butler, Logan Morris, Will Morris and Hal Smith serving as pallbearers. Friends may call from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday at Weiker Funeral Home in Slater. Memorials are suggested to the New Frankfort Cemetery Association in care of the funeral home.

Born Sept. 6, 1929, in rural Slater, he was the son of the late John and Arta Bohlken Gerhard. On July 25, 1953, in Slater, he married Barbara Sue Babler, and she preceded him in death on Feb. 3, 1992.

He is survived by a son, John Gerhard and his wife, Karen, of rural Slater; two daughters, Susan Sandwith and her husband, Terry, of rural Slater, and Judy Morris of Slater; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Charles Frank Gerhard and a brother who died in infancy; and two sisters, Jeannine Martin and Marialyce “Jimmy” Johnson.

Mr. Gerhard was a member of the First Baptist Church in Slater, where he sang in the church choir for many years. He was a U.S. Army veteran, and a member of the American Legion Post #78 in Slater. He sang for countless funeral and wedding ceremonies. Mr. Gerhard was employed by the Slater Co-Op for 11 years and retired from the Slater School District after working as a custodian for 24 years. He had also farmed in the Frankfort area.