In Memory
PEARLENE GENTRY-POWELL
Jan. 29, 1946 - Feb. 16, 2014
SOUTH BEND - Ms. Pearlene Gentry-Powell, 68, affectionately known as "Pearl," departed this life at 12:00 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, Mishawaka, Indiana. She was born on January 29, 1946, in Gary, Indiana, to Minerva Bell and Otis Johnson. She moved to South Bend, Indiana, when she was four years old, along with her father and grandmother, Pearline Gentry, who raised her.
Pearl received her formal education through South Bend Public Schools, graduating from Washington High School.
In 1965, in South Bend, Indiana, she united in marriage to Robert Jackson, Sr. To their union one child, Nila Jackson-Olive, was born.
She relocated to Los Angeles in 1974 and attended and graduated from West Los Angeles College. She confessed a hope in Christ and attended West Angeles Church of God In Christ in 1984; she was baptized on January 19, 1992, and became a member of West Angeles under the leadership of Pastor Charles E. Blake. She was employed at Kaiser Permanente Hospital as a surgery scheduler and at Centinela Hospital as a PBX Operator; she retired in 2001.
After retirement she returned to South Bend. Upon returning to South Bend she began worshipping at Rhema Word International Ministries under the leadership of Bishop Stephen Reed. Pearl loved going to church, baking pies and cakes, playing bingo, watching Westerns, working crossword puzzles, and spending time with her family and friends. She will be missed by all those who knew and loved her.
Pearl leaves to cherish her loving memory one daughter, Nila Jackson-Olive; one granddaughter, Tanika Clark; one grandson, Trevon Olive; five great-grandchildren, Quanya Heard, Quincy Heard Jr., Tyjhorn Heard, Jackson Clark and Nila Franklin, all of South Bend, Indiana; her mother, Minerva Bell Franklin of Los Angeles, California; one brother, Tommy Spencer of Hawthorne, California; special aunts, Helen Robinson, who helped raise her, of South Bend, and Rosalee Mitchell of Hawthorne; two special cousins, Alex Watson of South Bend, and Nellie Brownlee of Azusa, California; two surrogate daughters, Leslie Burks of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Jackie Taylor of Indianapolis, Indiana; and special friends, Nettie Murphy, Mary Portis, Charles Bracey, Bill Hill and Javonne Bobbitt, all of South Bend. She also leaves a host of other relatives and friends.
Along with her father, Otis Johnson, she was also preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Pearline and Henry Gentry; an aunt, Ruth Watson; an uncle, Hubert Gentry Sr., a son-in-law, Cesaer Olive; and special friend, Andrea "Cookie" Jackson.
Services will take place on Monday, February 24, 2014, in Clark-O'Neal Funeral Home, 2702 Lincoln Way West, South Bend. Visitation will begin at 11:00 a.m. and funeral service at 12 noon. Entombment will take place at Highland Cemetery. Sign her guestbook at www.clarkoneal.com, where arrangements have been entrusted.
Published by South Bend Tribune on Feb. 23, 2014
04/16/2023 EJS
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