Carla Claudia Gisske
Carla was born Feb. 4, 1947 and was among the younger kids in her class. That meant that she got to drive a little later and had a few more rules to break. She was the one who got caught, even when she didn’t do it…. But she was also the one who could do anything she put her mind to and do it all very, very well.
The Gisskes lived in the same house forever and parents, Hugo and Margaret, enjoyed having kids over to swim and play. The Gisskes stability was a refuge for a lot of kids.
Carla married young and had two kids by the time she was 20, Jaime and Scott. She divorced and remarried the dashing Dick Bower when she was about 23.
Not one to be alone, it was only a few months after Dick died that she married Ron Nesgis, an old friend that she described said was "as close to Daddy’s attributes as she could get." She and Ron were married 21 years and lived in Placerville and Lincoln (Sun City).
Always ready for fun, Carla camped, traveled, and RV’d to her heart’s content. She remembered everything about everyone and every place.
The greatest joy of her life were her grandchildren and her two great grandchildren. She loved the babies and spoiled them rotten.
Carla worked for years in the Silicon Valley through the “boom” years and later became a Pharmacy Technician. She worked in retail pharmacy for Long’s Drugs and in the Marshall Hospital pharmacy and hospital home health pharmacy. Ironically, she specialized in mixing Chemotherapy drugs.
Carla was always clever and artistic. She sewed most of her wardrobe during school and took up painting, stained glass, quilting, toll painting, doll making and ceramics once she retired. Her work was beautiful, but she especially enjoyed the companionship of her quilting friends.
In April of 2006, Carla’s cancer was diagnosed and she decided to fight. She was rewarded with about a six month remission, which was time to get her affairs in order, grow back her hair, make new friends, travel a little, and make a commitment to her more spiritual side.
She had two more courses of Chemo with only one short remission before allowing the cancer to take what was left of her body and free her soul.
In the two and a half years that were to be her last, she grew the most. We said goodbye on November 5th.
Teresa Gisske
Nov. 8, 2008
