Gertrude Henrietta “Gert” Mosblech (1911-1993)

On Saturday, July 15, 1911, Eduard and Magdalena Mosblech welcomed their third child, Gertrude Henrietta Mosblech, into the world. “Aunt Gert” was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the third oldest of fourteen children. “Aunt Gert” holds a special place in the Mosblech family history for her warmth, joy and affection for her many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

We called her our great-aunt but the genealogy term is grand-aunt. Aunt Gert was grand. She lived in the same four family flat that we did in the 1970s, so we saw her every day. Even though she was in her sixties, she always had time for us kids. She never tried to brush us off and enjoyed when we come over and watch television with her.

Aunt Gert did not have the easiest time in life. When she was younger, she did not learn as quickly as her siblings. While her siblings went to work after they graduated eighth grade, Aunt Gert stayed home and helped Great Grandma take care of the house. When Great Grandma died in 1945, Aunt Gert continued to take care of the house.

Great Grandpa was going to take care of Aunt Gert in his will. However, Eduard remarried in 1946 and all his money went to his new wife upon his death in 1956.

Aunt Gert worked cleaning houses until she fell down some steps, when she was in her 50s. She could not work any longer and went on Social Security Disability. The disability payments were not enough to cover her expenses, so most of her brothers and sisters chipped in each month to take care of her living expenses.

Aunt Gert lived on the second floor of our flat for a long time until the lady downstairs moved out. We were able to move her downstairs. While she lived on the second floor, my mom always worried about her falling down the steps, so she used to take stuff downstairs for her. Mom would walk down the stairs with Aunt Gert, whenever she saw her coming downstairs.

Aunt Gert had lots of reasons to be bitter but I don’t ever remember her complaining. She always seemed so happy whenever we would go see her. I think she did get lonely at times but I never saw bitterness in her. I used to think Aunt Gert was Mom’s godmother but it was actually Aunt Dolores. Mom said that when she was growing up, Aunt Gert was always the cousin’s favorite aunt. They told her they were going to call her “Aunt Trudy” and Aunt Gert got the biggest kick out of it.

Aunt Gert loved to talk and could not keep a secret. My grandmother, who was Aunt Gert’s younger sister, used to say Aunt Gert was the biggest gossip in the family, which is covering a lot of ground. When I inadvertently shared this information with Aunt Gert, she asked Grandma if she said it. My grandmother did not lie and stated, “Yes, Gertrude. You are the biggest gossip in the family.” They talked it out though and Aunt Gert wasn’t mad. Grandma was always protective of Aunt Gert. Grandma would not speak to one of her brothers, who did not help with Aunt Gert’s care.

In 1980, my parents divorced. Aunt Gert ended up being our babysitter every once in a while. Right before Christmas 1980, Dad let us know that he was getting remarried. My younger sisters and I were really struggling with the changes and Christmas was coming up. Aunt Gert was going to watch us while Mom went shopping. She kept talking about how we were going to watch a Christmas movie that night.

A Christmas movie was the last thing on my mind. To be honest, I didn’t really put too much stock in her endorsement. When we went over that night, she had fixed us popcorn. The movie on TV that she had hyped so much was White Christmas (1954). It was everything that she said. For those two hours, we forgot about my dad’s upcoming wedding and felt the Christmas spirit again.

The movie was just the right medicine. To this day, it is still my favorite Christmas movie. Despite the passage of 30 years, I still vividly remember watching that movie with her that night, eating popcorn, and her joy at how much we got into the movie.

In 1981, my mom remarried. We moved across town to Dad’s old house on Villa Avenue. In the late 1980s, Aunt Gert could no longer live on her own. Even though she lived in a care facility, one of her siblings would pick her up and bring her to the family reunions. She still remembered everyone and we were so happy to see her. She just had difficulty getting around and eventually was wheel chair bound.

On Monday, February 1, 1993, Gertrude Henrietta Mosblech passed away at 81 years of age. She outlived a number of her young siblings including my grandmother. She was laid to rest in St. Peter’s and Paul’s Cemetery on February 3, 1993.

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