Gert was born in Hamsud, Quebec in 1927. Her parents sold their farm in Quebec and came to
Vermont in 1930 to look for a farm to buy. They settled on one in Wolcott, but things did not go
well. Their father came down with double pneumonia and the doctor left him for dead. While he
miraculously survived this illness, he lost the farm and had to move in with his brother for a year
and a half, to recover both his health and finances enough to return to farming. In 1943 he bought
a 140 acre farm in Morristown. At this time Gert was teaching, while her father and brother,
Lawrence, ran the farm. Her sister Jeannette was flying with Pan Am as a stewardess, and
another sister, Therese joined the Navy and then worked for Senator George Aiken. All were
drawn back to the farm to work during vacations. In 1952 Gert returned fulltime to help her
father and brother, and eventually bought the farm. Jeannette and Therese came home in the
sixties to help out and over the years they added land and built up a prize herd of Jersey cows. In
1994 Gert sold the development rights to the Vermont Land Trust and in 1996 the three sisters
retired from farming and sold their herd of Jerseys. They rented out their barn, but shortly after
suffered a devastating fire in 1997. This was rebuilt in 1998 and while the sisters no longer tend
to everyday chores they still maintain a keen interest and lend a helping hand to the tenant farmer
who now works their land.
