Corma Ethel Schick (Gerk) passed away Sept. 26 after 97 healthy, happy years filled with her most important thing — her
family. Corma was the pillar of her close knit family, a devoted mother to her four children and eight grandchildren. She was a wonderful wife, mother and friend who made everyone feel welcome. Strong in tough times and finding joy in every situation, she was quick to smile, to laugh, full of love, and a ray of sunshine.
Born August 17, 1914, in Miles City, MT, Corma was an adventurous, bright and energetic spirit. As a young girl she lived in Deer Lodge, MT, and for a brief period in Seattle, WA. Her grandchildren loved hearing of her growing up on a homestead near Pumpkin Creek, MT, riding horseback to a one-room school house with her sister Lorna and learning to drive when she and her sister “borrowed” their father’s model-T Ford.
She graduated from business college in Butte and, during World War II, made the bold decision as a single woman to leave her family in Montana to transfer with the Shell Oil Company to Seattle. Equal parts grace and guts, she was an independent woman ahead of her time and made the long drive from Montana to Seattle for new career opportunities, experiences and friends in the big city. She met her husband, Bob Schick while living at the Alhambra, a boarding house on Capitol Hill. Together they rode tandem around Green Lake, fished on Lake Union but, especially, they bonded over music – she had the record player and he loved the classics.
Married in 1943, Corma and Bob lived in Washington, New Mexico and Colorado with their four children before settling in Seattle in the 1950’s. They loved the Pacific Northwest and took their family camping, boating on Puget Sound and to visit her family in Spokane.
Corma took pride in her work at the Boeing Company eventually retiring in 1977. A mover with endless energy, she did not slow down in retirement but spent her time sharing stories and adventures with her children and grandchildren and volunteering in her daughters’ classrooms helping students with their lessons. Corma and Bob walked many miles through the Cascades with the Federal Way Senior Center Walkers, sailed Puget Sound on Bob’s boat and traveled to Thailand. Corma was a member of the Twin Lakes Women’s Club and looked forward to taking part in Club events; into her nineties she was a volunteer for the Club’s annual Holiday charity gift giving.
Corma is survived by family who will keep her warm smile, quick laugh, and unending love alive in their hearts; her sister and brother-in-law, Lorna and Bud Elberson (Pullman, WA), three daughters and sons-in-law, Barbara and Alan Bruffey (Seattle), Gwen and Dan Smith (Puyallup), Natalie and Bill Poss (Bremerton), and a son and daughter-in-law, John and Sandy Schick (Wimberley, TX). She is also survived by her eight grandchildren; Beckie and Teresa Bruffey, David and Jason Schick, Bryan and Jeremy Smith, Lindsay Reese and Kyle Poss and four great grandchildren, Wyatt, Fiona, Brenden and Nathan. She departs this world to join her mother and father Anna and Charles, husband Bob and grandson Zachary – we know they are having a huge, happy party to welcome her home.
