Gerry was my baby sister!  She was married to Dick Wachs and lived in West Lafayette, Indiana

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Dick's Girls Swim Team for 99-00, it has a great picture of Dick and Gerry in it too...

Notes

Gerry's obituary in the Terre Haute Tribune...

Gerry Lynn Bratt Wachs, 54, of West Lafayette, Indiana and formerly of Terre Haute, Indiana died at 11:45 p.m. Thursday, April 13, 2000, at her residence. She taught in schools in Lafayette and Tippecanoe County, Indiana, retiring from Klondike Elementary School, where she taught second grade. She was born August 1, 1945, in Terre Haute, Indiana to Herschell Marvn and Evelyn Bertha Matthews Bratt. Survivors include her husband, Richard A. Wachs Jr., whom she married August 12, 1982, in Delray Beach, Fla.; three sons, Matthew Williams and Timothy Williams, both of Lafayette, Indiana and Michael Williams of Muncie, Indiana; and one brother, Marvin Bratt of Marion, Ohio. She was preceded in death by her parents. She was a 1963 graduate of the former Wiley High School, earned her bachelors' degree from Indiana State University, and her masters' degree in elementary education in 1972, also from ISU. Since 1982, she also has assisted her husband in coaching the West Lafayette boys and girls varsity swimming and diving teams. She received a Service Learning Grant from the Indiana Department of Education to work with children, primarily in the Celery Bog habitat. She was collaborating to produce a series of oral history stories for the World Wide Web, at http://wvec.k12.in.us/kes/projects/html. She was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church of Lafayette and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church at Purdue University. Memorial services are 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aprill 18, 2000 in St. John's Episcopal Church, with the Revs. Peter J. Bunder and Ed Tourangeau officiating. Private inurnment will be at the Tippecanoe Memorial Gardens in West Lafayette, Indiana. Soller-Baker Funeral Home West Lafayette Chapel assisted with arrangements. The family suggests that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Camp Bluebird at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, 1501 Hartford St., Lafayette, IN 47904.

Gerry Lynn BRATT was born on 1 August 1945 in Union Hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana. She loved to get her brother in trouble when the family travelled. She attended Davis Park Elementary School and then went on to Woodrow Wilson Junior High. From there she went to Wiley High School graduating with the class of 1963. She went to Indiana State University and graduated with a BS in elementary education and was an Elementary School Teacher at Klondike Elementary School. She returned to Indiana State and completed her Master of Science in Elementary Education. While there, she was homecoming Queen at Indiana State and a member of Delta Gamma Sorority. She married an outstanding gentleman named Richard Wachs in 1980.

11-1-98 She has recently been diagnosed as having a particular form of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. This diagnosis was made on October 28, 1998. She was taken to Home Hospital by her husband Dick early in the morning hours after having a difficult nite without much sleep suffering from severe headaches and vomiting. MRI and CATscanning found the tumor located on her right temporal lobe. This tumor was removed in a 7 hour surgery on Oct 28, 1998.

11-7-98 Talked to Gerry and Dick yesterday, both seemingly doing well. Gerry has lots of appointments with doctors in the coming week.

11-19-98 Talked to Gerry and Dick last nite... spirits are high, therapy started out fine. She said she was a little apprehensive but survived it. CtScan looked pretty good.

Gerry had another tumor removed from the same spot in January, 1999. The doctor put some radioactive wafers in the spot and she has been tumor free since.

It is January 1, 2000 and Gerry and Dick are in South Bend visiting Dick Sr. and Helen. She is doing well, cooking, and going shopping with her nurse.

Today is January 16 and I just go done talking with Gerry on AOL instant messenger. She sounded fine and is going out to a concert tonite, I think. She sometimes gets stuff like that confused...

04-14-2000 Today is Saturday April 14, 2000. Dick called at midnite on Thursday to let us know that Gerry had passed away about 11:00.