Mrs. Gert Smith, a resident of The Friendly Home, celebrated her 100th birthday on December 3. A party was held in her honor at The Friendly Home, attended by family and friends.
Gertrude Terry was born on December 3, 1912 in Honeoye Falls, the youngest of seven siblings. Her father William Terry and his wife Jenny built and ran the Terry Hotel near the Rochester Junction, a branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad which ran 13-1/2 miles north to the City of Rochester.
Her grandfather was the owner and captain of a whaling vessel originally from Massachusetts. Gert worked as a hair stylist after beginning her career as a manicurist in her sister’s shop. She married George Herbert Smith (Herb), a forest ranger for the New York State Forestry Department, and loved traveling with him when he was performing his duties.
In Tennessee, for example, Gert met and developed a great affection for the mountain people who welcomed her with down home hospitality. The couple, who had no children, were married for 60 years and lived in Tennessee, Oneonta, and Rochester over the years.
Gert describes herself as an “outdoor person” who enjoyed travelling and camping throughout the United States. In their retirement, she and her husband spent winters in Zephyr Hills, Florida.
An animal lover, she fondly remembers a pet dog named Rocky. Long ago childhood friends recall Gert taking in an injured blue jay. She put the bird in a cardboard box on her porch, and the neighborhood kids brought twigs to make it a nest. She learned how to feed the blue jay, and then made sure all of the other kids had a turn to feed it as well. When the bird was better, Gert turned him loose in her backyard.
All these years later, those children still remember her as a person who made it possible for them to perform an act of kindness.
A warm, sweet woman, she is known for frequently punctuating her conversations with, “Well, bless your heart” and being a kindhearted friend. As Gert herself puts it: “I like to make people happy.” Gert has lived at The Friendly Home for nearly two years.
Mrs. Gert Smith, a resident of The Friendly Home, celebrated her 100th birthday on December 3. A party was held in her honor at The Friendly Home, attended by family and friends.
Gertrude Terry was born on December 3, 1912 in Honeoye Falls, the youngest of seven siblings. Her father William Terry and his wife Jenny built and ran the Terry Hotel near the Rochester Junction, a branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad which ran 13-1/2 miles north to the City of Rochester.
Her grandfather was the owner and captain of a whaling vessel originally from Massachusetts. Gert worked as a hair stylist after beginning her career as a manicurist in her sister’s shop. She married George Herbert Smith (Herb), a forest ranger for the New York State Forestry Department, and loved traveling with him when he was performing his duties.
In Tennessee, for example, Gert met and developed a great affection for the mountain people who welcomed her with down home hospitality. The couple, who had no children, were married for 60 years and lived in Tennessee, Oneonta, and Rochester over the years.
Gert describes herself as an “outdoor person” who enjoyed travelling and camping throughout the United States. In their retirement, she and her husband spent winters in Zephyr Hills, Florida.
An animal lover, she fondly remembers a pet dog named Rocky. Long ago childhood friends recall Gert taking in an injured blue jay. She put the bird in a cardboard box on her porch, and the neighborhood kids brought twigs to make it a nest. She learned how to feed the blue jay, and then made sure all of the other kids had a turn to feed it as well. When the bird was better, Gert turned him loose in her backyard.
All these years later, those children still remember her as a person who made it possible for them to perform an act of kindness.
A warm, sweet woman, she is known for frequently punctuating her conversations with, “Well, bless your heart” and being a kindhearted friend. As Gert herself puts it: “I like to make people happy.” Gert has lived at The Friendly Home for nearly two years.
