Audrey Yvonne Gorecki

Audrey Yvonne Gorecki, 88, passed away May 1st, 2026, in her St. Augustine Florida home with family and dogs at her bedside. Memorial Service will be private in July. Interment planned for Jacksonville National Cemetery. Yvonne was born July 27, 1937, the middle child of Charles Vincent and Borghild Josephine (Eide) Cowley of Ambrose, North Dakota. Yvonne grew up and went to school in the small town of Ambrose. She often told stories recalling times when she and her siblings delivered fresh milk to residents via wagon or sled. Her mother often making cottage cheese lefsa or doughnuts. After graduating high school Yvonne got her teaching certificate from Minot State Teachers College (Minot, North Dakota) and spent a year teaching all ages and all grades in a one room schoolhouse out in rural North Dakota. After a very cold winter of keeping the school stove going with coal she opted for Nursing. She graduated from nursing school at Trinity in Minot. Both her sister Beverly Keller and sister-in-law Gloria Cowley graduated the same. Yvonne met and married her partner and best friend Delroy Gorecki in 1958 and spent the next 57 years travelling, discussing politics and building a life together. After daughter Debra came along, the family moved to Minnesota where she taught nursing and moved toward leadership at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Education was a joy to her, and she earned her MPH (University of Minnesota) and her MHHSA (Saint Mary's University of Minnesota). Opportunity provided for Yvonne to return to North Dakota and bring her energy to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Dickinson North Dakota. She loved her time there and it gave her great satisfaction to encourage growth in all who entered her orbit. When retiring to St. Augustine, Florida, she was active in politics, sewing, her Norwegian heritage, and caring for her beloved chihuahuas, Sunshine and Amigo. Yvonne is survived by her daughter, Debra Carter; grandsons, David Carter (wife Darcelle and son Trey) and John Carter; nieces, Roberta Kramer and Desiree Wallace; nephews, Ross Keller, Scott Keller, Frank Keller, Jack Keller and Michael Cowley. Yvonne was preceded in death by her husband, Delroy Gorecki; her parents; her sister, Beverly Keller; brother, Gene Cowley, and brother-in-law, Bob Keller. Memorials are preferred to Community Hospice and Palliative Care Jacksonville FL.

Audrey Yvonne Gorecki

July 27, 1937 - May 1, 2026