Jimmie Leola Gieger

Jimmie Leola Gieger passed away September 16, 2021 here in the Indian Wells Valley at
age 82; she had been in declining health for some time. Jimmie was born on July 31, 1939, in
Sweetwater, Texas, but her family soon started moving west: Deming and then Carlsbad, NM, as
well as Kingman, AZ. She remembered spending her 6 th birthday with her mother in a motel on
Sierra Highway in Palmdale, her father and older brother working during the week at China Lake
NOTS as the whole family waited for their house at the corner of Groves and Lauritsen to be
completed by fall 1945 when she started first grade in the temporary huts. Jimmie so enjoyed
growing up on base in the 1940s and 1950s, walking or bicycling everywhere (the theater, the
pool, the library, the chapel, the tennis courts, the little duck-pin bowling alley) and making
many good friends along the way.
She graduated from "old" Burroughs in 1957 and went to Bakersfield College 1957-1959
and Fresno State 1959-1961 where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education. Even as
her parents moved to Lake Isabella in retirement, Jimmie returned to China Lake and taught at
Richmond, Vieweg, and Groves between 1961 and 1967. She met and married her husband, Jan
Gieger, and they were married for 50 years until his passing in 2013. She took time off from
teaching in 1968 to raise two sons, Jason and Jacob, and returned to the classroom at Pierce full-
time in 1984. She particularly enjoyed teaching 4 th grade, and she and Jan went on countless road
trips (often with dachshunds along for company) to the missions and other historical/scenic sites
in California (Jan taking pictures, so Jimmie could show her students the Golden State in slide
shows). She retired from teaching in 1996.
At various moments in her life, Jimmie enjoyed bowling, tennis, golf, square dancing,
antiquing, cooking (sugar cookies! skillet enchiladas! peanut brittle!), crocheting, and, ever since
she was little, reading. She was also an early participant in the Journey to Happiness Group.

Truly, throughout her life, she always enjoyed her friends, new ones made in recent years and
especially those friends she'd known for 50 years or more. Lots of good laughs, lots of good
times, lots of good stories.
Jimmie is preceded in death by her parents, Ray E. and Florence (Carnes) Vaughan; her
brother Sammy and his wife Lorene; and her husband Jan. She is survived by her sons Jacob and
Jason (and his husband David); her niece Caroline and her sister- and brother-in-law Elisabeth
and Guy; and a grandson, Benjamin. She has requested no funeral and will be buried at Kern
River Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the American Diabetes
Association, the American Heart Association, or an animal/pet charity of your choice. She will
be sorely missed by 76 years of friends in the valley, but Jimmie Lee wants you to celebrate with
friends and family her joy in life by going out for a good meal or staying in and cooking up a
new recipe (something she loved to do). She says to all: "Bon Voyage!"