Gertrude E. L. Lehn

Mom was born to John Henry and Frieda Bielfeldt and named Gertrude Emma Lena on March 24, 1916 in Plum Hill, Illinois, a small farming community where her parents had a general store that sold all things across from the church at the towns crossroads. One of my favorite keepsakes is a chipped ceramic teapot, which like many others sold at the store had the following words inscribed in gold on its bottom J. H. BIELFELDTS STORE FOR THE PEOPLE WHERE HIGH QUALITY AND LOW PRICES ARE LINKED TOGETHER. IT PLEASES ME TO PLEASE YOU. Grandma Frieda was the churchs organist for 27 years and on one very special, snow blanketed Christmas Eve when Mom was four, she sang Silent Night in German for the townsfolk at the churchs candlelight service. A few months later the family moved to Addie Ville, Illinois, a little larger farming community, where she learned English so she could start school. Her mother taught piano lessons and, according to Mom, tried to teach her. While Mom never reached her mothers level of accomplishment, she continued to play for pleasure whenever she could. When she was 12 the family moved to East St. Louis where she attended junior and senior high school before she and her family moved across the river to St. Louis. Her faith in God and love of singing led her to become an important part of several church choirs throughout her life and in high school she sang with a large Presbyterian choir twice a week that featured 100 voices! Mom had a wonderful soprano voice and sang at Chicagos 1933 Worlds Fair and at St. Louis Municipal Light Opera in Forest Park with the St. Louis Symphony. She also loved competitive team sports as an athlete as well as an avid spectator. She became her championship womens fast-pitch softball teams all-star pitcher and loved to skate, bowl, golf with Dad, and play ping pong. As a loyal and enthusiastic fan, she never missed any of my football games or swimming matches or passed up a chance to pick a team and make a small wager with any of us on a broadcasted game. After graduating from high school Mom got a job to help her family cope with the Great Depression. Trudy was quick, hard working, honest, and good looking with a winning attitude and lots of spunk. While her formal education was limited, she never had a problem getting a job. When Dad beheld her for the first time, she and her friend Margie were wowing lunch time customers at Woolworths five and dime. As Dad used to tell it, Woolworths had a cheap lunch for 30 and each weekday Mom and Margie would entertain a packed crowd sitting on stools at the counter eating lunch as the two of them sliced, spread, and served sandwiches and sodas with amazing speed and quick witted exchanges of jokes and antics. At first Moms family was dead set against Dad and every night for three weeks Moms older brother Bill tried to talk her out of marrying Dad. Compared to the twenty five year older and wealthier State Senator trying to woo her at the time, Dad didnt seem to have much to offer. While Dad had only finished the ninth grade and didnt have any money, he was good looking, sang in three octaves, and danced like Fred Astaire. He could sell a song better than most and at one point auditioned for Major Bos nationally broadcasted Amateur Hour in New York City. Mom loved Dads voice and they both loved singing together. A few years ago she confessed that her first, really big dream was for them both to become a popular, light opera singing duo. It was an unusually romantic time throughout much of the world with many memorable movie tunes written for loving couples. For those of us lucky enough to experience one of their performances or share a song filled Sunday afternoon drive through the countryside, Mom and Dad singing to and with each other was a very special treat. Despite her familys opposition, or maybe in part because of it, Mom married Dad in 1938 at the age of 22 when both had little more than their love of each other and Moms faith in God. When her older sister Elfrieda died of cancer, Mom and Dad moved into the attic of her parents home to care for Elfriedas two daughters, Jean (5) and Marion (3), who to this day think of her as the only mother they ever knew. Mom became their Girl Scout Leader and Jobs Daughter volunteer who organized many of their activities including hay rides and dances. In time, Moms parents gradually overcame their prejudices and developed a deep trust and affection for Dad. Mom believed in miracles and her faith in them helped us all overcome many obstacles. When she decided to have children, her doctor told her that her uterus was up side down and that having a baby was hopeless, a word that Mom has always been slow to accept. She and Dad took a trolley to a grand Catholic cathedral on the other side of town for nine consecutive Tuesdays to go before the altar, light a candle, and pray for divine mercy and the blessing of a child of their own. Soon afterwards, she fell down a flight of stairs and I was conceived. Since my birth was caesarian, Mom was told she wouldnt be able to have anymore, but she and Dad prayed again and were blessed with Tom and Ted five years later. Mom claims it was because I was clumsy and always falling down, but three and a half years after I was born, she took me to take tap dancing lessons. I got fairly good and was eventually discovered by Janet Dailey, a popular radio host who introduced Mom and me to Lalla Bauman, who owned and ran St. Louis best dance studio with a bull whip. Lalla realized my publicity would be good for business and offered to give me free dance lessons. After singing and dancing in several hospitals for the sick, aged, and dying, I became Pinky Pevely, a popular symbol for the regions main dairy. This distinction became an important vehicle for much larger venues including billboards, a rodeo, a movie premiere with Donald OConnor and Jimmy Durante, Pinkys televised Christmas special for the Citys orphans with Russ Davids 32 piece orchestra, and a weekly Saturday morning TV show for kids. At the age of 5, I was crowned Mr. St. Louis and Mom and I were flown to Los Angeles to participate in a national All American Boy contest at the Hollywood Bowl, where I placed forth. A few years later (1952) Mom and Dad packed the twins and me and all of the familys belongings into a big Mercury that Dad had agreed to drive and deliver across country in order to move us all to Stockton, California. Moms brother Henry was part owner and manager of Henrys Rolling Pin, which featured Stocktons best donuts, and the Miracle Drive-in, which featured delicious cheese burgers, fries, sodas, and car-hops. The drive-in was located at the far end of Stocktons Miracle Mile of small shops and businesses, which rival car clubs used to cruise every Friday and Saturday night looking for fun and adventure in their chopped and lowered custom cars lavished with multiple layers of colorful lacquers. Mom and Dad helped Henry with both places and eventually managed another for him in Tracy. After comparing the services of a few others, Mom and Dad liked Stocktons Congregational Church and its Pastor best and soon became active members of its choir, Saints and Sinners, the churchs young couples group, and the churchs two youth programs, Youth and Pilgrim Fellowships. Under Mom and Dads spirited leadership, which lasted 12 years, Youth and Pilgrim Fellowships became an important part of the whole familys early life together. Their engaging personalities and programs nurtured our awareness of, reverence for, and faith in God, love of Jesus, and the idea of serving God by serving others - especially those less fortunate. Along with her work as a waitress (she often had to soak her feet when she got home to stop the swelling so she could wear her shoes the next day) and her many responsibilities as a Stage Mom, Den Mother, and Boy Scouts, drum and bugle drill team, and sports supporter, she and Dad gave hundreds of kids regular, wholesome, and fun filled opportunities to share hayrides, pee wee golf, church picnics, dances, swimming and skating parties, and summer camps. Managing Henrys place in Tracy eventually proved too stressful and Dad went back to selling life insurance as he had before moving from St. Louis. A few years later he was promoted and the family was relocated to the Bay Area. I had made some friends from Piedmont at church camp and wanted to live there but the real estate was too expensive to buy. As luck would have it, Mom was hired as a book keeper for a large dairy and her boss just happened to have a small house with a terrific view in Piedmont that she offered to rent to Mom and Dad for a price they could afford. Persuaded largely by Piedmonts reputation for exceptionally good schools, Mom and Dad accepted the offer and joined Piedmonts Community Church, where they led Tom and Teds youth group. Once all three of their sons had graduated from Piedmont High, Mom and Dad decided to buy a house of their own in a new suburb in the Livermore Valley that was later annexed into Pleasanton. Mom joined Metropolitan, the same life insurance company that dad was working for, as their first female agent on the west coast and often led the office in sales. They both loved their new house and neighbors in Pleasanton and Dad built an amazing deck in the back yard where Mom cultivated roses and played ping pong until dark. In 1971 Mom lost one of her breasts to cancer and four years later learned from one of Stanford Universitys top cancer specialists that she had bone cancer on the top of her skull and had less than three months to live. He also neglected to tell her that the radiation treatments he prescribed would cause her hair to fall out, which left her to discover it alone one night when she tried to wash it. This was Moms darkest moment and biggest test and everyone who knew her prayed that her life would be spared. Soon afterwards a friend of mine recommended that I take her to a Japanese acupuncturist and herbalogist who, after examining her, surprised us both by saying Not bad, not bad! Mom was afraid of acupuncture but took his very strong and bitter tasting medicinal teas every day. About six months later, several western doctors sat in one of Stanfords medical theaters asking Mom questions trying to find out why her bone cancer had suddenly and completely disappeared. Moms radical mastectomy, permanent hair loss, and brush with death awakened a much deeper and more personal understanding of the fears and humiliations that many women suffer from cancer and once again she seized the opportunity to help by volunteering her time. For 18 years, she helped raise peoples consciousness and money for the American Cancer Society. She visited cancer patients in hospitals to share her story of hope and transcendence; she started what became a very successful thrift store, and helped organize money making fashion shows at some of the areas country clubs. Despite their reluctance to suffer the Northwests weather, the lure of grandkids ultimately proved irresistible and in 1989 Mom and Dad finally moved to Edmonds and bought a house a few blocks from ours, across the street from the High School. For the next 11 years, Mariam, Frieda, Mithra, and I had them mostly to ourselves. Naturally one of the first things they did was to join Edmonds Presbyterian, where they sang in the choir and served as Deacons. They also became active in the South County Senior Center and helped start a local food bank for which the Rotary Club once honored Mom as their Volunteer of the Year. Once a week Mom and Dad would pick up fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, and pastries from many of the local stores and super markets and sort them out for seniors at the center, making sure everyone was given a special cake on their birthdays. Dad died on February 2, 2000 from pneumonia caught in the hospital after falling and breaking his hip. Seventeen months later (July 24, 2001) Mom had heart surgery a triple bypass and a pigs valve (to avoid blood thinners) that was expected to last ten years. The doctor was surprised that Mom was 85 and thought she was a good risk. Three or four years after her heart surgery, Moms purse was stolen at gunpoint in front of her doctors office in Edmonds. A few weeks later she found a charming little cottage across the street from Teds office in Friday Harbor and sold her house in Edmonds. She soon joined the islands senior center where she made several good friends and once again, generously volunteered her time for several good causes. After surviving her heart surgery and two cancers, macular degeneration gradually took away all of her sight in one eye and nearly all of it in the other. She kept taking vitamin supplements that might help while praying and searching for a scientific breakthrough. To reattach one of her retinas she once sat, ate, and slept with her head faced down everyday for a week. Since she ordinarily wouldnt have been able to sit still for more than a couple of hours, her faithful perseverance throughout the ordeal and her retinas successful attachment was a tremendous personal triumph. While she saw less and less of what she really wanted and felt that she needed to see, and lost her ability to drive a car, she cheerfully accepted her fate as Gods will and never complained. She lived in Friday Harbor for about five years until Ted moved to Panama and she started falling down more frequently. The family moved her to an assisted care facility near Mariams and my house in Edmonds in the spring of 2009. A year later she fell and broke her hip and although she made a valiant effort to regain her ability to walk, she was largely confined to a wheel chair for the rest of her life. After several months in a convalescent hospital, Tom and I found her an attractive, well kept, and genuinely caring Adult Family Home near our house where she lived as the oldest of the four to five other ladies living there until she died on June 3, 2012. We usually didnt have as much money as everyone else we knew but the richness of our familys experiences more than compensated us for anything we may have missed. Mom and Dad shared an unusually passionate and lasting love for each other and their family in a marriage that lasted 62 years and gave them three sons, five daughters-in-law, two grandsons, three granddaughters, several nieces, grand nieces, grand nephews, and many close and lasting friends. We learned simple virtues from her daily example that many have been taught but few even try to live up to. Trust and believe in God, which was revealed to her by His son Jesus. Serve Him by serving others, especially those less fortunate. Be faithful and persevering. You can do anything worth doing if you try and nothing if you dont. Be generous in sharing all that youve been given and honor yourself, family, community, nation, world, and universe in all that you do. Life is full of blessings for those who can see them. Moms memorial service was held at Edmonds Presbyterian Church - 22600 96th Ave W, Edmonds, WA 98020 on Saturday June 9, 2012 at 4:00 PM. Her funeral service was held at Edmonds Memorial Cemetery & Columbarium - 820 15th SW Edmonds, WA 98020 on Monday, June 11, 2012 at 2:00 PM. As she often said of others, What a blessing!