Obituary of Gertrude Fogarty

Gertrude M. Fogarty, of Albany, New York, died peacefully on Tuesday, December 29, 2009. She was 99. She was the daughter of the late Rose Holtslag Schaefer and Peter A. Schaefer of Schenectady, and was born on September 4, 1910. With her brothers, Vincent, Paul and Carl, and many other friends, as a young woman she was a very active member of the Mohawk Valley Hiking Club and a participant in the early "Ski Trains" between Schenectady and North Creek in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She worked as a secretary at General Electric in Schenectady before she married in 1935 Edward J. Fogarty, an electrical engineer with Bell Laboratories. They made their home in Rutherford, New Jersey, and then in Columbus, Ohio, before moving to Albany to retire in the late 1970s. They had been married for 63 years at the time of his death in 1998. Gertrude is survived by six children, Michael J. Fogarty of Delmar, Kathleen Luken of Manheim, PA, Rose Anne Fogarty of Delmar, Elizabeth Garcia of Managua, Nicaragua, David E. Fogarty of Rutherford, NJ and Mary M. Flad of Poughkeepsie. She is also survived by her sister, Margaret Mearns Allen of Albany; by 14 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and by many friends and relatives. She relished life, delighted in watching the changes in the weather and the seasons, and following the events of the world. She read voraciously, knit obsessively and wrote letters regularly to any public officials whom she felt would benefit from her opinions and advice. She believed firmly that the world could be a better place, and she tried to make it so. In the last decade of her life, she returned to an earlier interest in painting, and completed dozens of canvases of Adirondack landscapes, wildflowers, and tree foliage, celebrating her deep attachment to the North Country, where she spent part of every summer near Bakers Mills. Funeral services, Thursday at 9:15, from the Daly Funeral Home, 242 McClellan St., and 10 o'clock at St. Madeline Sophie Church where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated. Calling hours, Wednesday evening, 6 to 8 p.m. Interment, Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery, Niskayuna. Donations may be made to WAMC or to Amigos de los Ninos "MiCasa."