Gertrude Henriette “Gert” Mosblech (1911-1993)

Op zaterdag, Juli 15, 1911, Eduard and Magdalena Mosblech welcomed their third child, Gertrude Henrietta Mosblech, into the world. “Aunt Gert” werd geboren 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, Tante Gert bleef voor het huis zorgen.

Great Grandpa was going to take care of Aunt Gert in his will. Echter, 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” en tante Gert kreeg er de grootste kick van.

Aunt Gert loved to talk and could not keep a secret. Mijn grootmoeder, 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, “Ja, 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. Tante Gert kwam af en toe bij ons oppassen. Right before Christmas 1980, Dad let us know that he was getting remarried. Mijn jongere zussen en ik hadden echt moeite met de veranderingen en Kerstmis kwam eraan. Tante Gert zou op ons letten terwijl mama boodschappen ging doen. 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). Het was alles wat ze zei. 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 jaren, I still vividly remember watching that movie with her that night, popcorn eten, en haar vreugde over hoeveel we in de film kregen.

In 1981, mijn moeder hertrouwde. We verhuisden door de stad naar papa’s oude huis aan 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. Ze herinnerde zich nog iedereen en we waren zo blij haar te zien. She just had difficulty getting around and eventually was wheel chair bound.

Op maandag, Februari 1, 1993, Gertrude Henrietta Mosblech passed away at 81 jaar. 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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