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Deceased Name: FREIDA GAULTNEY
Freida R. Gaultney, who with her family owned and operated Hagstrom's Supermarket in Petaluma for nearly 40 years, died Monday at Petaluma Valley Hospital.
Gaultney, who was 71, suffered from complications of Lyme disease, said her husband, Jim Gaultney.
She was a native of central Kansas, born in Nickerson and raised in nearby Hutchinson, the Reno County seat. She grew up one block away from Jim Gaultney, her high school sweetheart. The two married in 1944. ''We were married nearly 55 years and we spent 56 Christmases together. We never missed a Christmas,'' Gaultney said Wednesday. The couple lived briefly in Hutchinson after Gaultney was discharged from the Navy and returned to high school to get his diploma. Then, in 1946, they moved to California and lived in Alameda, Vallejo and Napa before settling in Sonoma County in 1960. Gaultney was a homemaker and raised the couple's children before she became co-owner of the family grocery, her husband said. ''When we got to Petaluma she had to work her tail off as a bookkeeper and checker,'' Gaultney said. The family business expanded to include the adjoining shopping center and Gaultney remained active in the business until the property was sold to the Petaluma School District 1997. The district is currently remodeling the market building for its administrative headquarters. Gaultney was active in Lutheran Church activities, and was a member of the Christian Women's Club. She also was an accomplished china painter. ''She was a student of china painting, and she had china paintings all over the house. She treasured the idea of being able to hand paint something,'' her husband said. Her painting and other activities were curtailed, however, after she suffered Lyme disease that would eventually cause her death. ''She had Lyme disease long before they knew what Lyme disease was. It crippled the quality of her life, and it was more than six years before she had a Lyme disease diagnosis,'' Jim Gaultney said. ''Undiagnosed Lyme disease does much damage to the body.'' In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons and a daughter, Steve Gaultney of Petaluma, Rich Gaultney of Eugene, Ore. and Kim Nicodemus of Chico; sisters, Patricia Bauman of Santa Rosa and Beatrice Beck of Vacaville; and five grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the Elim Lutheran Church in Petaluma. Interment was private at Cypress Hill Memorial Park in Petaluma. Memorial contributions may be made to the Elim Lutheran Church Building Fund, 504 Baker St., Petaluma 94952. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA) Date: January 1, 1999 Edition: FINAL Page: B2 Record Number: 9901010028 Copyright (c) 1999 The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)
