Geraldine Louise (Walker) Troha

Geraldine “Gerry” Louise (Walker) Troha, 96, of Mine Hill, died in the early afternoon of Saturday, November 29, 2025 at home with her beloved son by her side.  Gerry was born on Tuesday, April 16, 1929 in a house on Canfield Avenue in Mine Hill, the eldest child of Thomas Nicholas Walker, Sr. and Margaret May (King) Walker.  Owing to the onset of the Great Depression, the family was forced to move to a house on Kings Highway in Port Morris, where Gerry started to attend school.  After living there several years, as the economic condition of the Nation worsened, the family, which by then included her two brothers, was compelled to move to Landing, where Gerry continued her education in the local school.  Following the economic upturn coinciding with America’s entry into the Second World War, the family saved up enough money to purchase a home in Kenvil in 1945.  As a teenager, Gerry became a member of the local Civil Defense program, joining night-time patrol groups that walked the streets of Kenvil and sections of Succasunna to ensure that everyone had their lights extinguished during air-raid drills.  Gerry would have been a member of the Roxbury High School Class of 1947, but financial conditions towards the end of the war necessitated that she leave school to get a job to help support her family, a decision that she regretted for the rest of her life.  In 1946, she met the love of her life, Lawrence “Larry” Charles Troha, when he was honorably discharged from the Army Air Force, and whose family lived directly across the street from her house.  The couple subsequently married on May 7, 1952 in Maryland.  In the early 1950’s, Gerry was employed at Picatinny Arsenal, and then later at a toy factory that once stood along Route 10 where the Ledgewood Mall is now located.  By 1954, Gerry and Larry had saved sufficient funds to purchase property and commission the construction of their home in Mine Hill, which ironically led to Gerry living for nearly seventy-one years just a half-mile west of her birthplace.  After the toy factory closed, Gerry returned to Picatinny Arsenal, where she worked on various manufacturing projects, including the fabrication of solid-fuel propellants for rocket motors.  While there, she was elected a union representative in the 1960’s.

Upon the birth of her son in 1968, she left Picatinny Arsenal to become a full-time mother and homemaker.  Education was always important to her, so she made sure to sit her little son in her lap and read to him for several hours each day, which enabled him to start reading at a young age.  She also imparted her love of Nature, Science, local history, and genealogy to her son, instilling in him her innate curiosity about the Universe, which eventually led him to become a physicist and amateur historian.

While her son was growing up, Gerry and Larry would always come up with entertaining ways to enhance his playtime.  During the Winter, following a snowstorm, Gerry would pile up a huge mound of snow, packing down each layer as she went, and then carve out the interior in order to create an igloo.  She would then serve her son and the children playing with him hot coco in their snow structure.  During the Summer, Gerry and Larry would make sandwiches for the children, so they could have a lunch break.  Gerry and Larry were both very good at interacting with children, so their siblings often asked them to babysit their nieces and nephews, and later, the nieces and nephews had Aunt Gerry and Uncle Larry watch their kids.

Gerry enjoyed many hobbies, including drawing, sewing, knitting, crocheting, quilting, photography, making decorations for the various holidays throughout each year, cooking, baking, helping Larry do yard work, gardening, planting flowers around the yard, caring for her in-door plants, and painting the wooden toys and models created by her husband.  In her later years, she enjoyed working on crosswords and mathematical puzzles, and she was always a voracious reader of newspapers, magazines, and books, especially British mystery novels.

Over the last few years, she developed bone-on-bone arthritis in her right knee, which made it ever increasingly difficult to walk, even with a cane and the assistance of her son.  Her immobility frustrated her greatly, as it prevented her from helping around the house.  Despite this, she was still able to enjoy every day, spending time with her son, and reading newspapers, magazines, and books, until Macular Degeneration had almost completely robbed her of her sight in recent weeks.

She was predeceased by her parents; her husband of 62 years, Lawrence Charles Troha; and her brothers, Thomas Nicholas Walker, Jr. and Lowell King Walker.

She is survived by her son, Anthony L. Troha, Ph.D.; a sister-in-law, JoAnn Walker of Mine Hill; and a myriad of nieces, nephews, and other extended family members and friends.

Visitation will be held from 9:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at the Bermingham Funeral Home, 216 South Main Street in Wharton, followed immediately by internment at Locust Hill Cemetery in Dover.

The family would like to express their thanks to the members of the Wharton Police Department, the ambulance squad from Saint Clare's Hospital in Dover, the Morris County Medical Examiner’s Office, and Bermingham Funeral Home who helped her take her last journey from her home.  They would also like to extend their appreciation to the staffs of Bermingham Funeral Home and Locust Hill Cemetery for their kindness during this difficult time.  Their son is taking solace in the fact that the team of Larry and Gerry have been reunited in Heaven.  Gerry is loved so very much and will be greatly missed.  John 3:16, Revelations 21:4.

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