Salina “Sally” Pitts Gieseke

Sally Pitts Gieseke was born in Beaumont, on January 24, 1938. She died in her home in Kountze on September 28, 2025, when she went to be with Jesus. Sally’s parents were Garnette Northcott and Llewellyn William “Skeet” Pitts. After World War II started, her father, an architect, joined the Navy and was assigned to duty in Washington, D.C. After the war, the family returned to Beaumont, where Sally attended Averill School, Dick Dowling Junior High School, and Beaumont High School, graduating in 1956. She attended SMU for two years, then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin for two years. The bureaucracy there held up her diploma for almost thirty years.

Sally was married to high school classmate Jim Stokes in 1961, between his graduation from West Point and his assignment to Germany. In Germany, they welcomed the birth of Louellen Stokes in Nuremberg in 1962. From there, the family moved to Davis, California, and Jennifer Stokes was born in 1965. After Jim’s tour of duty in Vietnam, they moved to West Point, where the family added a son, Jerome Milton “Jerry” Stokes. Finally, in the civilian world, the family grew with the birth of Catherine Stokes in Sleepy Hollow, New York, in 1972.

Sally and Jim were divorced in 1992, and Sally married another high school classmate, Bill Gieseke, in Lumberton, on September 20, 2005. They lived in Kountze, for the duration of their marriage. They recently celebrated their 20^th anniversary.

Sally is survived by her husband Bill, of Kountze; children, Louellen Stokes Fuller and her husband, David, of Batson; Jennifer Stokes Magee and her husband, Jeff, of Katy; Jerome Milton “Jerry” Stokes and his wife, Dr. Lisa Stokes, of Sherman; Catherine Stokes Bell and her husband, Judge Rick Bell, of Richmond; ten grandchildren, Michael  Fuller of Dallas, Catherine Stapp and her husband, Nicholas, of Ore City, Elizabeth Magee of St. Louis, Missouri, Paul Magee of Katy, Emma Stokes of Denton, Griffin Stokes of Sherman, Brody Stokes of Sherman, Travis Bell of Houston, Ashley Bell of Richmond, and Amanda Bell of Richmond; as well as her stepchildren, Catherine Anne Gieseke Williams, John Stephen Gieseke, and W. R. Gieseke. She is preceded in death by her parents; and stepdaughter, Deborah Anne Gieseke.

A gathering of Mrs. Gieseke’s family and friends will be begin at 10:00 a.m., with her memorial service at 11:00 a.m., Friday, October 24, 2025, at Woodcrest Methodist Church, 1684 US Highway 96, Lumberton, under the direction of Broussard’s, 530 West Monroe, Kountze. Her cremation arrangements were handled through Broussard’s Crematorium, Beaumont.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Woodcrest Methodist Church at www.woodcrestlumberton.org.