Gentry, Emily Laura (nee Olesky) 1924-2008

Emily Laura Olesky was born March 2, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan. She was the only child of Walter and Emma (nee Oberowski) Olesky. When she was a young girl, her parents divorced and she lived with her mother, beloved grandparents August and Minnie Oberowski, and her uncles, George and Hank.

Emily met George Melvin Palmer (Jack) near the end of the World War II, and they were married October 13, 1945, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Detroit. After Jack was honorably discharged from the service, Jack and Emily settled into a home in Detroit. They lost their first child at birth, then had George Melvin, Jr. (Jack) and Richard Kevin (Rick). The family bought a home and moved to Garden City in 1955.

Emily worked for over 20 years as a secretary for the Chamber of Commerce, the Garden City School Board, and the Garden City Police Department. She was an talented artist, and enjoyed watercolors, oils, and various arts and crafts. She was active in her sons’ lives, including becoming a den mother to their cub scout troop when they were boys.

In 1972, Jack died of a stroke. Emily continued her career at the police department and maintained her home on Cardwell. In 1977, Emily married Wilbur Sinclair Gentry, a Dearborn Heights firefighter, and they moved to a home in Dearborn Heights.

>Emily and Will loved attending auctions and buying and selling antiques. They took various motorcycle trips, enjoyed snowmobiling, traveled throughout the United States, and vacationed in Germany other European countries.

Will died of heart disease in 1998, and shortly thereafter, Emily moved to the American House assisted living center in Livonia, where she lived until her death of complications from hip surgery, December 22, 2008.

Emily will be missed by her sons, grandchildren, George, Cindy, Tammy, and Geoff; and great-grandchildren, Sabastian, Jada, Taylor, and Danielle.