Geraldine “Jerry” Nelson Fischler, 89, of Morehead City, died Thursday, November 24, 2022, at Carteret Health Care, Morehead City.

A celebration of life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, December 10, at First Methodist Church, Morehead City, with the Rev. E. Powell Osteen, Jr. officiating.

Jerry was born March 10, 1933, in Gloucester, NC, to Charles Gordon and Addie Mae Gaskill Nelson. Following the death of her mother when Jerry was two, she alternated between the family home and the residence of her loving aunt Nellie Willis on South 10 th Street in Morehead City. With her father’s happy remarriage to Susan “Mama Pearl” Godwin in 1942, Jerry spent the rest of her childhood in Morehead City. She graduated from Morehead High School in 1951 and pursued her education at Rex School of Nursing in Raleigh, where she earned her Registered Nurse certification. She then returned to Morehead City and worked at Morehead Hospital, where her favorite assignment was labor and delivery.

Jerry married Kenneth Fischler, originally from Brooklyn, NY, and a biometrician for the U.S. Fisheries Department at the Pivers Island location in Carteret County, on September 15, 1956. She began her favorite job of mother with the birth of son Ken, Jr. in 1957 and daughter Karen in 1959. Ken’s graduate education at the University of Washington took the family to Seattle, WA, and they returned to Carteret County after he earned his master’s degree. Daughter Dorothy followed in 1965 and son Daniel in 1968.

Jerry was an active, involved mother to her children, filling their summer days with trips to the beach at Oceanana, the family station wagon packed with bag lunches, neighborhood children, rafts, buckets and lawn chairs and then on to the Country Club pool to wash off the sand. Among the best qualities Jerry esteemed and passed on to her family were love for God and following Him, cultivation of a close-knit family, love for others, importance of education, a delight in sports, and lots of downeast wit. These showed up in the way she nurtured her family’s hearts through faithful attendance of First Methodist Church where she was a member since childhood. She made everyone feel cherished whether family, friend, or stranger, and treated all children as her own. A favorite for many generations of the church children, she helped them to be quiet in services with the gum she always kept in her purse. She was a beloved neighborhood mom, welcoming her children’s friends with a grilled cheese sandwich while they played board games or pickup football, then practicing throwing the baseball or shooting baskets with them. Known as “MaMa” to her grandchildren, she is remembered fondly for the clambakes, and soft crab and shrimp dinners, served around the kitchen table where competitive games of Tripoley were loudly played for hours after. Her winsome personality and quick wit made her fun to be around. She adored her nieces and nephews and her bridge girls, enjoying participating in a bridge club for over fifty years. Jerry was a huge sports fan, constantly watching a game on tv or heading around the state to cheer for her children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews from the stands at various matches, meets, and games. She instilled a love for books in her children, reading to them every night, and making sure they knew the importance of an education. All four children graduated from West Carteret High School and – to the delight of avid Tar Heels fan Jerry -- the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jerry is survived by son Kenneth Joseph Fischler, Jr. and wife, Laura, of Raleigh; daughter Karen Fischler Rudolph and husband, Sanford, of Winston-Salem; daughter Dorothy Fischler Carr and husband, David, of Huntersville; son Daniel Glen Fischler and wife, Jeannie, of Morehead City; grandchildren Jordan Rudolph Murtaugh (Tyler), Courtney Rudolph, Emily Carr Bukovac (Eric), Jackson Fischler, Caroline Rudolph Inchaustegui (Nick), Jared Carr (fiancée Amanda Pasca), Hannah Fischler Pergande (Morgan), and Daniel Fischler, Jr.; great grandchildren Hudson Pergande and Bennett Bukovac; and sister-in-law Loraine Nelson.

In addition to her parents, her beloved sisters Eloise Nelson Pigott and Ellen Nelson Wade and brother Eric Nelson preceded her in death.

The family will receive friends at Noe-Brooks Funeral Home on Friday, December 9, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to First Methodist Church, 900 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557.

Condolences and life tributes may be sent to the family at www.noebrooks.net

Arrangements by Noe-Brooks Funeral Home, Morehead City, NC