Thomas Arnold Gehrke, 69, peacefully rode into his final sunset on Aug. 7, 2018.
He was born on June 8, 1949, in Woodstock, Ill., to Arnold and Virginia (Jagodzinski) Gehrke. He graduated from Badger High School in 1967 and then served in the National Guard. He resided in Walworth for 23 years with his family and was the proud owner of TAG Masonry for 22 years.
He is survived by his two children, Melissa (Jake) Rankin, of Mukwonago, and Tyler Gehrke, of Madison. He was known as papa turkey to his two grandsons, Colton and Hunter Rankin. He is further survived by his sister, Judy Sokolowski; brothers David (Cindy) Gehrke and Jeffrey (Ester) Gehrke. He was preceded in death by his baby brother, Timothy Gehrke, and his brother-in-law, Ed Sokolowski.
Tom loved and valued his family and friends. He loved having big parties with family and friends in the back yard and thoroughly enjoyed having a good time. He made friends easily everywhere he went and enjoyed interacting with everyone. He also enjoyed doing crazy antics to surprise people and make them laugh. He was a character who worked hard and also played hard.
Tom was a cowboy at heart and loved leading many trail rides around Walworth with all of the other closet cowboys from the area. He and two good friends were dubbed Cadillac cowboys in 1988 for riding from Walworth to LaCrosse on horses with family delivering some meals along the way, thus the name.
Tom loved his horses and talking to the older farmers. He seemed to be an old soul in a sense and many times said he should have been born 100 years earlier.
Happy trails, Tom. You will be missed. Until we meet again. Love, your family and friends.
A memorial service will be at noon Aug. 25 at the Haase-Lockwood and Associates Funeral Home 113 Freeman St., Genoa City. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until the time of the service. Memorials may be made to The Time is Now to Help PO Box 1, Lake Geneva, WI 53149.
