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She lived frugally and left millions to help out others

Saturday, February 12, 2000

By REBEKAH DENN Mail Author
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Gertrude May Lewis lived a quiet and modest life, working as a librarian in the Seattle Public Schools and caring for her elderly mother and aunt.

"She never bought new things. She would go places where she could get a very inexpensive haircut," recalled Joi Zemel Long, her second cousin.

Following her death at age 84 though, the quiet woman is making a tremendous impact.

Lewis left an estate worth $2.2 million, built on a mid-career salary of just $5,800 a year. Beyond a few small bequests, she divided it between educational and charitable institutions that had affected her life.

Bruce Moen, executor of the will, believed her savings came in part from her father's estate. But her cousin said it was all Lewis' own.

"It was just compound interest and investments, and not spending anything," said Long, who lives in Vancouver, B.C. "During the Depression, I guess she realized (how far) a little cash could go."

Lewis died on Feb. 11, 1998, but the recipients have just received the first disbursements from the estate.

The Seattle school district will receive roughly $265,000, to be divided between her alma maters of John Muir Elementary School -- which used to go through eighth grade -- and Franklin High School.

Similar bequests went to the University of Washington's College of Education; the residents' fund of the Kline-Galland Home (a Seattle assisted-living facility where she lived before her death); the Salvation Army Women's Shelter and the Seattle Library Foundation.

Lewis bequeathed the Mount Baker house where she was born and lived almost her entire life to the City of Hope medical research organization, which will use the proceeds from its sale for its non-profit work.

The dollar amounts aren't the millions and billions of other Seattle philanthropists. But to the carefully chosen recipients, they're spectacularly welcome.

"Bless her heart," said Carmen Tsuboi Chan, principal of Muir Elementary, which will receive a $100,000 share of the bequest. The gift provides an unheard-of amount of no-strings-attached money -- several times the amount of the school's normal annual discretionary funds -- for school improvements.

"We want to do a good job in her memory and honor, something long-lasting that would affect all children, not just certain kids or programs," Chan said.

A school committee will discuss how to use the gift, but Chan would like to see it used to buy up-to-date equipment for a school computer lab and to train teachers to be computer literate.

Lewis took on the task of caring for others early in her life; her father and younger sister both died unexpectedly when she was in her early 20s. The family was traumatized, and "Gertrude just shouldered the burden for all those people," Long said.

Lewis received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Washington and started her career as an English teacher in Blaine. She worked in several school districts, including Federal Way and North Bend, before joining Seattle as a library cataloger in 1961, according to the district. She retired in 1975.

She worked in an old bus garage at 137th Street and Meridian Avenue at a now-obsolete job -- analyzing where books should be placed on the library shelves, a job now done by the Library of Congress instead of individual librarians.

She had a quick wit and a positive attitude, said Judith Frey, who was Lewis' supervisor in the 1970s.

"She focused so much on supporting the women in her family," said Frey, now dean of continuing education at Lake Washington Technical College in Kirkland.

"I think (that for) most of the years when people sort of enjoy their success, she cared for a mother and aunt. That was basically her life, coming to work and caring for these women. I think some people might be a little discouraged with that," but Lewis never appeared to be, Frey said.

"She is a person that always surprised me. Even in death she is still a person that surprises."

Long said her cousin was "terribly bright" and loved gardening, growing prize dahlias. Lewis enjoyed traveling and visited Central America and Europe but curtailed such trips when her mother fell ill. For two weeks a year, recalled Frey, she would indulge in seeing plays with a friend.

"She was feisty, she was sweet, she was warm, she cared about other people," said Long, who grew up with Lewis and also inherited some bonds and an annuity from Lewis.

Lewis had clear ties to each of the beneficiaries in her will except for the Salvation Army, which runs perennially underfunded shelters for both homeless women and domestic violence victims.

Long wasn't positive why the Salvation Army was specified in the will, but thought she might know.

"She thought that somebody had to look after women," Long said.

"I guess no one had looked after her."

P-I reporter Rebekah Denn can be reached at 206-448-8190 or rebekahdenn@seattle-pi.com

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