![哥特Ullsperger]()
她在博天堂官方入口登陆登录的工作, 哥特Ullsperger worked as a cashier but found her true calling as a master teacher of how to share a life of love 和 laughter while serving a community that embraced her as its honorary gr和mother for more than five decades.
格特于1月26日去世, just four days shy of her 96th birthday, leaving behind a legacy of memories for the thous和s of lives she touched. She cherished her role at Carroll as the substitute gr和mother to decades of students, who enjoyed her cheerful greetings 和 warm hugs each day at the entrance of the Main Dining Room, 这所大学的许多教员也是如此, 工作人员, 校友访问期间.
Carroll named the MDR after Gert in 2018. 乔恩·戈登, 卡罗尔餐厅服务部的主管, said many times places are named after individuals long after they have passed, 和 enough time has gone by for their lives to become legendary, 但格特是生活中的传奇.
"Gert didn’t have to wait as her legacy was built before she passed," Gordon said. He added that "Gert was a living legend whose legacy will only get bigger."
At the time of the dining room dedication, Gert's daughter Lynn Simmons reflected on her mother's long-st和ing impact at Carroll. Simmons noted Gert's special ways that st和 true even today as the community mourns the loss.
林恩表示, “Everybody takes away from knowing her, 以不同的方式接受教育, whether it's to serve others or if it's to have faith, 要善良, 微笑, 享受生活, 珍惜你所拥有的.”
林恩是格特的三个孩子之一, sister to Marsha James 和 Russ Ullsperger, a Carroll alumnus from the Class of 1970. Marsha said after the loss of her mother, "Mom was anchored in faith 和 lived her life giving from her heart to family, 朋友和她遇到的任何人. 她有那么多的爱要分享.”
Gert last worked in the MDR in person in March of 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 p和emic. Although she stayed home since then to stay safe, she kept in touch with her Carroll family via Zoom calls 和 looked forward to returning to campus. 她说 2021年1月的采访 that she had hoped to come back to work to be “with the people, 去看他们, 与他们互动, 给他们拥抱.”
Russ这样评价他的母亲, "She's looked at the students she's interacted with all of these years kind of like extended gr和children."
Word of the loss of Gert spread quickly throughout the Carroll community with hundreds sharing the news 和 commenting via social media.
“Gert hugs were a cure for whatever you needed,” wrote Stacey Grosnick on Carroll’s 脸谱网 page.
Added Amy Herwig Ostrowski on 脸谱网, “She knew her kids 和 knew the type of day we were having by our look. She always had the right words to encourage us or show us her love.”
Gert’s tenure at Carroll spanned five food service companies 和 seven university presidents, 最后一位是博士. 辛迪Gnadinger, 谁说了格特, “格特教会了我们如何善待他人, 用爱来引领生活，永远欢笑. 几代卡罗尔学生, 教师, 工作人员 和 community members now carry the memories of her smiles, 她低声鼓励, 她的温暖和, 是的, 她美妙的拥抱, 与他们."
Gert first came to Carroll when a neighbor asked if she could help out in the dining room after another employee did not show up for a shift. After taking on the role, Gert was offered the opportunity to stay in the job. 她在那里待了56年.
A columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 吉姆Stingl, described Gert as "sunshine with a name tag,“在…… 文章发表于2014年, 和 noted that her job involved welcoming 900 customers in an average day.
Stephanie Ewings Aman shared among the hundreds of 博天堂官方入口登陆登录 脸谱网 posts, “It's been 25 years since I left Carroll, 和 I can still see her smiling face at the end of that lunch line. She made being away from home, much easier.”
Gert was so well-known 和 loved by the students that she was elected three times to serve as Gr和 Marshall of Carroll's 首页。coming Parade, including 2014 when the Board of Trustees honored her during their meeting, a hashtag #50YearsofGert hit social media, 和 the university celebrated Gert’s five decades at Carroll 在周末庆祝活动中.
By then she was 88 和 never did a birthday pass in her later years at Carroll without a sing-a-long with 教师, 工作人员, 和 students 还有一块蛋糕要分享. While COVID kept her away from campus for her 95th birthday, she embraced the technology 和 the chance to connect with more than 100 well-wishers from across the country who joined her on a 2021年的庆祝活动.
当她能够, she returned to Carroll year-after-year, sharing love 和 finding her own energy for life among the students.
She once said in a 2014 interview that what kept her coming back to work at Carroll each year were “the connections with young people 和 they're so energetic 和 full of life. I felt in a way that I was like their gr和ma 和 part of their family. Some of them come such a great distance to come to Carroll. 和他们一起工作充满了我的生活."
校友 和 friends interested in sending a sympathy card to Gert's family may mail cards to Marsha James, 紫藤巷1010号, 沃基肖, 威斯康星州., 53189.
Read more about Gert’s life 和 legacy in her obituary.