Geraldine (Gerry) Malone

Geraldine (Worley) Sims Malone died February 10, 2024, in Waco, Texas. She was 97 years old.

Gerry was born on April 10, 1926, in Overton County, Tennessee, to James Worley and Loranza Newberry. The family moved to Indiana when Gerry was 9 years old. A good student, Gerry graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1943 at the top of her class.

In March of 1946, Gerry married her first husband, Guy Wilbert Sims. He had recently been discharged from the Navy, where he served in the South Pacific. They moved to Arkansas so he could go to Harding University. Guy became a preacher for the Churches of Christ, and Gerry raised their two children, Nancy Ann and James Otis. Over the next 25 years, the family moved to accommodate Guy's calling, ultimately living in ten states: Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Washington, Idaho, California, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.

Gerry loved traveling and enjoyed meeting new Christians all over the country. As a result of her husband's career, she was quick to make friends. When they landed in Waco, Texas, with their children grown, Gerry decided to get a job at Hillcrest Hospital as a ward clerk (floor secretary) in 1972. Her colleagues encouraged her to go to McLennan Community College and get a two-year Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) degree, which she did in 1978. She had the top score in the Texas state board examinations that year and began working in Hillcrest's Intensive Care Unit. In 1981, she became a Registered Nurse (RN), again scoring among the highest in the state, and continued working in the ICU until she retired.

Guy died of a heart attack in August 1983. He and another family friend, who had been sick with cancer, died about the same time. The Sims and Malones had socialized together in happier times, and in November 1986, Gerry married W.W. (Buck) Malone. She and Buck enjoyed traveling and socializing. They had nearly 16 years together before he died in September 2002.

Gerry lived near Stillwell Home, and for several years she lived alone, hosting a weekly card game and inviting people over on Sundays to watch the Baylor basketball and football teams on TV. She loved hosting and visiting old friends. Her yard had a huge pecan tree, and she invited anyone who needed pecans to come over and pick them. In her 80s, she was still an intrepid traveler, flying across the country to see her sisters in Indiana and her brother in Connecticut.

During one trip, her plane was unexpectedly canceled partway through the journey, so she joined up with a bunch of fellow travelers who decided to rent a van to go the rest of the way.

Closer to home, she was very active in her church, Lake Shore Church of Christ. She attended three times a week without fail, as well as Ladies Bible Class on Tuesdays. She was generous with what the Lord had blessed her, and enjoyed donating to mission fields across the world, as well as providing funds for Bible translations and helping scholarship students at Churches of Christ-based colleges.

A few years after Buck died, Gerry decided to downsize and move into Stillwell, where she lived for about ten years. Some of her buddies she played cards with lived there, and they recruited another couple of players and kept the game going.

Gerry began to slow down as she reached 90, and although her hearing and vision were not as acute, she was still sharp and interested in the world and people around her. She had a bad fall in April 2022 and broke her leg, so she moved into nursing care during the pandemic. While her leg healed, she didn't regain her former mobility, and continued to decline. She died aged 97.

Gerry was preceded in death by her two husbands; her parents, James and Lorenza Worley; and siblings, Irene Gibbs of Round Rock, TX, Anna Cummings of Indianapolis, IN, and Harold Worley of East Lyme, CT; her son, James O. Sims of Kansas City, KS; and grandson, Allen James Wilmoth of Kingsport, TN.

She is survived by her daughter, Nancy Ann Wilmoth of Easley, SC; Nancy's children, Amy L. James of Hampton, TN and Andrew Wilmoth of Easley, SC. She is also survived by Amy's children, Madison Hyder, Nicholas Hyder, and Katrina Hyder; her daughter-in-law, Natalia Sims of Kansas City, KS, and Natalia's children, Polina Sterkhova, Viktoria Sterkhova, and Ekaterina Sterkhova-Ortiz, her husband, Daniel, and their children, Sofiya and Roman.

Gerry is also survived by her former daughter-in-law, Vickie Sims, of Kansas City, KS; grandson, Shane Sims; stepdaughter, Patricia S. Hood; and grandson, David Hood. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews, and her dear friends from Lake Shore Church of Christ, who enjoyed her company during holidays, invited her into their families to celebrate birthdays and advocated for her in the nursing home. She will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

In lieu of flowers, Gerry would have appreciated memorials in her name go to the Cherokee Home for Children (https://www.chc4kids.org, Fosters Home for Children (https://www.fostershome.org. or the Eastern European Mission (https://www.eem.org.