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Gertrude Schlosser (Lenzenhuber)           April 3,1907-October 25,2007
1924 wedding picture	Ludwig, Mary Lou & Gertrude mid to late 1950s
Gertrude hated coming into America at Ellis Island in 1924, as a seventeen year old immigrant. The bathroom stalls had no doors for privacy, and overall you were treated as a piece of meat. Her newlywed husband Ludwig had been to America before but she hadn't. Her fist child Joseph was born in the Bronx in September of 1926. As well as the Bronx they had lived in College Point before moving up to the Albany area. I know they used to hang out around Smithtown on Long Island but I'm not sure if they ever lived there. (her brother Otto ended up living in Hicksville on Long Island)
Although they had gone back to Germany once or twice by air, her father said he would come to America when they built a bridge. I remember one trip they brought back an 8mm movie camera for their son Joe.
When I would ask my grandmother what she was cooking she would reply "Scheissdrek mit gelde liebe" (Shit with golden love). My mother called her in-laws Momma & Papa until she had grandchildren of her own, then she became grandma and my grandmother became Oma (German for grandma).
Gertrude always kept good control of her weight and health and was proud of the fact. She enjoyed swimming, being it at the lake in the Adirondacks or in the pool at their trailer park in Florida. She never learned to drive an automobile. After Ludwig died in 1986 she kept his car on the road including insurance. When she needed to go grocery shopping she would have a trailer park neighbor give her a ride in her car. (Kurt did it for years for her before he died). She was 79 when her husband died and lived alone for about 15 years until she moved back up to upstate New York. For years she lived in low cost assisted living facilities until finally ending up in a nursing home Northwood's at Rosewood Gardens in East Greenbush, Rensselaer County, New York. She ran out of money her last few years and my parents managed to get her financial aid to cover the home. One facility she stayed at in Troy wasn't very good and my mother insisted it was what helped kill her. In her late 90's she had a gall bladder operation other than that her last major medical procedure was a radical mastectomy over 50 years before. She still had most her teeth and never had gray hair. (she dyed it reddish). One of her favorite things she liked to the end was getting her hair done. When she died in her 101st year her last words were "I miss my husband".
Gertrude and her son Joe                                                                                                    October 2003 at 96 years old                                      April 2007 at 100 years old
Florida 199x?
Gertude (Schlosser) Lenzenhuber                     Died on October 25th 2007, in her 101st year                     She had a good life and will be missed.
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