"My husband was from Wisconsin, and back when I was fifteen my foster parents and many friends and neighbors were having a party each Saturday night at someone’s house. We would have an old-fashioned square dance, pull the furniture back and roll up the rugs. Some homes were large enough to have two rooms to dance in. At midnight we would have lunch, with every family bringing a dish to pass and their own table service, and decide where to meet the following week.
          My girlfriend’s parents were to have the party. She told her uncle of the dance and he asked if there were any girls coming. She told him of me. He was twenty two years old and helped her father on the farm. The party was the third Saturday of October. My foster parents played. She was on the violin, and he the guitar, and he also called the square dancing. When I wasn’t playing the piano I would dance. My foster mother was quite strict. She did not want me out of her sight. This nice young fellow asked me five times to dance before my foster mom gave her OK. Finally it was the last set of the night and she agreed, but only where she could see me. So we got to dance and he asked me if I would be at the dance the following week. He did not really know how to square dance as his folks in Wisconsin were not dancers. He wanted to learn how and he got to enjoy it. We did round dancing as well. So I taught him to waltz and step, and so on. We had many good times.
          It was the last Saturday night of November and he came home with us because my foster folks wanted him as hired help. My foster mom wasn’t able to go to the barn so much due to her sickness. This Saturday night we got home and Auntie showed him his room, and we were standing on the heat register in the hall getting our feet warm and just talking about that night of good times and who was there. He put his arm around my shoulder and kissed me. Oh what a thrill! We courted for one and a half years..."

          Gertie has been a quilter since her foster mother taught her in 1930. They would recycle flannel material five inches square that was used to strain milk, and would work on one or two quilts per winter. She has completed over forty quilts. Recently, she was the focus of a demonstration at the Majors Inn, Gilbertsville, where she displayed five intricate quilts and jackets, Christmas stockings, tree skirts, and pillows. At that time she was working to complete a kaleidoscope pattern quilt.