Gertrude Pointer (Lansing)

Mrs. Gertrude Pointer went home to be with the Lord on Good Friday, April 18, 2025, at 10:21 p.m. in Lansing, Michigan at the age of 105 years old. She was born on Tuesday, October 7, 1919, in Armorel, Arkansas to Reverend William and Mrs. Addie Harris. Gertrude was one of eight children born to their family.

Gertrude accepted Christ at an early age in Arkansas. Eventually, the family relocated to Charleston, Missouri before moving to Lansing, Michigan in 1945, where she became a member of the Union Missionary Baptist Church. Gertrude was united in Holy Matrimony to Lawrence Stanley Pointer and from that beautiful union came four sons.

Gertrude graduated from high school in Blysville, Arkansas. She worked for Sparrow Hospital as a ward clerk and later became a housewife and started her own day care center. She later returned to the workforce and worked for Meals on Wheels for Ingham County. As a member at Union Missionary Baptist Church, she sang in the senior choir and worked in the culinary and mission ministries.

For many years, Gertrude had a beautiful vegetable garden and was a great and gifted cook and baker, and she put a lot of love into her cooking. Her love for cooking started at a young age, which little did she know that her passion for cooking would later blossom into a ministry that would help others, such as cooking for church members and others who lost loved ones and the thousands of cookies she baked for vacation bible school. She always shared meals with families in the neighborhood who did not cook for the holidays, and she always participated in fundraisers for the church to raise money at Thanksgiving for families who were in need. Gertrude was a woman of faith who loved her family, and she prayed without ceasing.

Gertrude leaves to cherish her loving memories her children, Lawrence E. (Faye) Pointer, Columbus, Ohio, William S. Pointer, Denver, Colorado and Brian K. Pointer, Lansing, Michigan; grandsons, Marcus Pointer, Columbus, Ohio and Wesley Pointer, Atlanta, Georgia; granddaughters, Keisha (John) Proctor, Columbus, Ohio and Naomi Pointer, Atlanta, Georgia; great-granddaughter, Samarra Pointer, Columbus, Ohio; many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends whom she loved deeply including a special friend, Mary Bodiford, Lansing, Michigan.

Gertrude was preceded in death by her husband, Lawrence Stanley Pointer; son, Michael E. Pointer; parents, Reverend William and Addie Harris; brothers, Wilford Harris, J.B. Harris, Alphonso Harris; sisters, Eva Aldridge, Marie Humphrey, Miriam Davis and Eula Vannerson.