Gaylo Gerken Connor

June 18, 1928 - December 5, 2020

Gaylo Gerken Conner, a longtime resident of Nevada County, died on December 5, 2020, after a brief stay at Golden Empire Nursing and Rehab Center in Grass Valley. She was 92. Born on June 18, 1928, Gaylo grew up in Palo Alto, California, the daughter of the author Elon Gerken and his wife Esther, an award-winning weaver. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, she worked as a stewardess for United Airlines before marrying John “Jack” Conner, also a graduate of UC Berkeley, on December 5, 1951. They raised their two children, Ken and Carol, in Visalia, California, where Gaylo taught in the public schools. In the mid-1970s, Jack and Gaylo moved to Nevada County, where they built a home in Grass Valley’s Sherwood Forest subdivision, and Gaylo resumed teaching in the public schools. In retirement, she enjoyed volunteering at the Empire Mine State Park, as well as serving on the board of directors at the Nevada County Historical Society. After Jack passed away in July 2019, Gaylo became a resident at Atria Grass Valley. A kind and generous woman with an easy sense of humor, Gaylo was an avid reader, a passionate gardener and a talented photographer, whose images appeared in Sunset magazine and on California state park calendars. Her photographs were also sold at the Empire Mine. She loved to travel, often in search of wildflowers to photograph, as well as to hike and cross-country ski with Jack in their beloved Sierra Nevada. At her request, there will be no service. She is survived by her brother Wendell (Hilde) Gerken of San Francisco, her son Ken Conner and daughter-in-law Christine Cuccia of San Francisco, and her granddaughter Jessica Conner of La Mesa (San Diego County).