Romance novels and ballroom dancing: Just 2 passions of this 112-year-old JoCo woman

Gertrude Stern still remembers being a child and selling cups of water to soldiers exercising by her home near Union Station. Those soldiers would later fight in World War I.

“We charged a penny. That was our trade,” she said.

Stern celebrated her 112th birthday Feb. 27. Born in Sioux City, Iowa, she moved to the metro when she was about 3 years old.

Now a resident of The Atriums in Overland Park, Stern lived in her Countryside home from 1950 until four years ago. She even renewed her driver’s license at 104, although she did stop driving the following year.

“At the time, she was disappointed she was not getting the full use of her license renewal,” said her son, Phil Stern.

Last year, Gov. Laura Kelly proclaimed her to be the oldest person in Kansas.

She’s had other accolades over the years. In 2018, she led the parade at the Overland Park Fall Festival as its grand marshal. In 2020, Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach declared her birthday to be Gertrude Stern Day.

“The one thing that’s always stuck out is how she’s able to recover from upsets. Perhaps the secret I’ve always thought for her life was the ability to brush it off and be positive,” Phil Stern said.

Being 112 isn’t easy.

“When you get to be 112 years old, you’ve outlived everyone you ever knew, and that’s difficult, but she’s done it with grace and style, although she misses them. That’s the downside of living to such a ripe old age,” Phil Stern said.

Stern has spent most of her life trying to make the world a more comfortable place for others.

In addition to raising three children with her late husband Morris, she made time to volunteer with numerous community programs.

Putting her sewing talents to good use, she made pillowcases and other items with a group at Village Presbyterian Church.

“Everybody knew I could sew, so everyone depended on me. I got along OK,” she said. “I enjoyed their company, and they enjoyed mine, so we got along.”

She especially loved getting the opportunity to make items for younger hospital patients.

“I enjoyed being their grandmother, I guess,” she said.

As well as sewing items, she knit and crocheted hats for premature babies and made bibs and lap robes for adults. Stern also spent 40 years contributing time to Red Cross efforts.

When she was in high school, she worked in a milliner’s shop at 12th and Main streets, making hats and working the register.

For fun, she used to go ice skating or ballroom dancing with Morris at the Pla-Mor Ballroom. Last month, she was still able to dance a little with daughter-in-law Mary Stern during a party at The Atriums.

A longtime fan of Danielle Steele, “she read every romance novel by Danielle Steele she could get her hands on,” Phil Stern said.

Until the last few years, she was a regular participant in exercise classes at the Jewish Community Center’s Heritage Center and was an active member at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. She still attends an exercise class at The Atriums three times a week.

For her birthday, she had a quiet dinner with her family at an Italian restaurant and had a Zoom call with family members too far away to join them.

This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Romance novels and ballroom dancing: Just 2 passions of this 112-year-old JoCo woman."