Age 94
“My soul magnifies the Lord,” the opening line of the Magnificat, was one of Sister Gertrude’s favorite prayers and her motto.
Entering the Sisters of Mercy in Burlington, Vermont, at the age 18, Sister Gertrude earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Latin from Trinity College in Burlington, Vermont, and a master’s degree in library science from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She also did advanced study in linguistics at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, and completed the Institute for Religious Formation Program at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.
She taught in elementary schools in Burlington and Middlebury, Vermont, at Rice Memorial High School and the former Mount Saint Mary Academy, both in Burlington.
For 30 years, Sister Gertrude ministered at Trinity College in Burlington as an assistant professor of English, academic dean, associate director of admissions, assistant to the president and director of campus ministry.
After serving as director of sister formation and novice director for the former Burlington, Vermont regional community, she was the co-director of the national Sisters of Mercy Collaborative Novitiate in Philadelphia for two years. She also served on the Burlington, Vermont regional community leadership team for fourteen years and most recently was their community archivist.
In retirement, Sister Gertrude enjoyed vegetable and flower gardening, sewing, studying old coins and stamps, puzzles, cards and reading a good book.