Born on Sept. 22, 1917, Gertrude was the youngest of three daughters born to Nellie and Nathan Shapiro. She was born and raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, NY. Even as a child she had a mind of her own and was always very outspoken and independent. As a young teen, when her family had to move to the Bronx, Gertrude feared she would miss her friends and old neighborhood, so she ran away from home and went back to Brooklyn. Of course she did return to her family in the Bronx, but was thrilled when they eventually moved back to Brooklyn. After graduating from James Madison H.S. in 1935, Gertrude got a job as a showroom model for a clothing manufacturer. Although she stood only 5’3”, with her incredible posture and proud air, she always appeared to be much taller.  She was a great talker, loved to laugh and especially dance. In fact she met her future husband, Alex, at a dance. They married on Oct. 18, 1941, eventually had two daughters, Ronnie and Shelley, and moved into a new home they had built in Mill Basin, Brooklyn in1958. Gertrude was very social and loved meeting new friends there. She especially enjoyed the mini trips she and her friends took regularly to “milk farms” where they would play Mah Jongg and her friends would try to lose weight. (Gertrude would be the one to eat all the “contraband” they would sneak in to the hotel!) In the summer of 1961, Gertrude’s perfect world came to an end when Alex suddenly died. Left alone to raise her two daughters (ages 15 and 11), Gertrude’s fierce independence, pride and protective nature enabled her to find a job and take care of her family. In 1974 it was determined that Gertrude was suffering from one of the early on-set dementia diseases (Pick’s Disease) and ultimately succumbed to it on Jan. 15, 1991. Her family remembers her most as a proud, independent, elegant woman who had a quick wit and was always the first one on and the last one off the dance floor.