Cloquet, MN - Geraldine "Gerry" Rae Walsh Mollner Krippner, 89, passed away peacefully on September 24, 2025, in Cloquet, Minnesota, after several days surrounded by family.

Gerry was born on March 3, 1936, in Huron, South Dakota, to James Patrick Walsh and Irene Cornelia Barager. Soon thereafter, she moved to Granite Falls, Minnesota with her mother and spent much of her early childhood on the farm of family friends Hazel and Tony Borg, where she developed a lifelong regard for animals big and small. In 1945, Gerry moved to Minneapolis with her mother and stepfather, where she learned to ride the streetcar on her own and delighted in watching Verne Gagne wrestle at the Minneapolis Auditorium.

Gerry graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1954 and went on to study nursing at Macalester College. While training as a nurse in Rochester, she met the sturdy and good-natured Jay Krippner. They were married on July 6, 1957. The couple moved to the Twin Cities in 1961, and Gerry worked as an RN for three decades. In those years, she was a central fixture of the O'Henry Road community, known for her wry humor and competitive spirit in neighborhood volleyball games. She also volunteered as a community advocate for Brooklyn Center's Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, partnering with police and social services to provide survivors with support.

In retirement, Gerry turned her focus to wildlife rehabilitation. Alongside Jay, often with their collies Monkee and Vinnie, she fielded calls from the DNR about injured animals found roadside in Carlton County. Their final home on Eagle Lake became a refuge for injured and abandoned creatures Gerry nursed back to health—ferrets, bats, ducklings, baby raccoons, Otto the Otter, Sydney the Batong, and Spike the Porcupine. She also volunteered countless hours as a docent at the Duluth Zoo, assisting in large-animal surgeries - including intubating a tiger - and helping nurture the Zoo as a gathering place for fellow Northwoods residents.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Jim Iverson, and her beloved husband of 61 years, Jay. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Lin and John Myszkowski of Brooklyn Center, MN; her son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Victoria Krippner of Modesto, CA; and five grandchildren: Alex (Jeramie), Claire, Olivia (Jonathan), Samuel, and Sophia. Visitation: 12PM until the 1:00PM Memorial Service Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at Bethany Lutheran Church, 5660 Highway 210, Cromwell.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, Minnesota, an organization close to Gerry's heart.