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In memory of

Geraldine Libbie Wilson

Frederick, MD, USA

April 5, 1938 - May 26, 2021

Apr 5, 1938 - May 26, 2021

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Geraldine Libbie Wilson
Teacher, Arts Advocate, Photographer

Gerri Wilson passed away peacefully in home hospice care on May 26, 2021, from complications following a stroke. She was surrounded by loving family and friends in an environment of music, poetry, and her photography. Gerri is survived by her devoted husband of 58 years, Bruce Dunbar Wilson and their son, Stephen Dunbar Wilson, daughter-in-law Diane Sansom Wilson, and granddaughter StellaJay Wilson; niece Catherine (Terrence Alexander) Kling, nephews John Kling and James (Ivy) Kling; and Debbie Smith, her faithful friend and caregiver. Gerri was predeceased by her parents John Henry and Libbie Pearce Groce, and her sister Marjorie (Kenneth) Kling. Numerous relatives and friends across the country share the profound loss of Gerri’s passing.

Born in 1938 and raised in Detroit MI, Gerri’s family encouraged her musical abilities from an early age. Throughout high school she performed widely in the Detroit area with the Teenettes, a girls’ barbershop quartet instructed and managed by her father, and with the Don Large Chorus. Those experiences contained the elements of what would be distinctive characteristics of her life to come: leadership, collaborative endeavor, enduring friendship, musical performance and, more broadly, dedication to the arts. Gerri earned her undergraduate degree in Music Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI, where she met Bruce, whom she would later marry (in 1962). Following graduation, she taught music in the schools of South Redford MI and Ann Arbor MI and became an active professional church musician. After moving to Maryland in 1968 she was a Teaching Fellow in music education and earned a master’s degree in Human Development at the University of Maryland, College Park. She continued as a part time church musician but paused her teaching career to raise a son with her husband Bruce.

In 1980 Gerri began her 24-year tenure as a music teacher at the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda MD where she encouraged her students’ involvement in creative music making. She worked collegially to develop an innovative lower school music curriculum. Her children’s chorus and select choir performances were noted for their excellence, including at regional and national conferences and choral festivals. Always willing to expand her horizons, both her classroom teaching and choral performances emphasized diversity and incorporated the music of other cultures. After her 1991 sabbatical in Bali to study the role of the arts in daily life, she developed adaptations of Balinese gamelan music for use in American elementary classrooms and gave workshops for other teachers. During the centennial year of the founding of Holton-Arms Gerri chaired the committee that generated fine arts projects and performances.

The prelude to Gerri’s tenure at Holton-Arms had been a year of participation as a master teacher in The Year of the Child at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC. As a coda to her teaching career following retirement in 2004, Gerri was an adjunct instructor in music teacher training for two years at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Post-retirement Gerri split her time between residences in Canaan Valley WV and Frederick MD and re-invented herself as a photographer. She also earned certification as a Master Naturalist through the 500th National Wildlife Refuge in Canaan Valley WV and, with her camera, created a visual documentation of the wildflowers of the Refuge. Her unique prize-winning photography, exhibited and sold both in Tucker County WV and Frederick MD, is noted for focusing on the commonplace in nature, elevating it to moments of contemplation and beauty.

Gerri was also active in community arts advocacy. In Tucker County WV she was a co-founder/director of School-Town Art (STArt) to promote art education in the schools, raise funding, and exhibit student accomplishments. She was also a co-founder and board member of ArtSpring, a non-profit community organization to promote the active arts culture in the county and sponsor an annual arts festival. Nationally, Gerri was associated for 35 years with Alice Parker as a board member of Melodious Accord to promote choral singing.

Gerri was a leader and a doer. Her usual “Hi, I’m Gerri,” often led to lasting friendships and collaborations, from her tricycle days in Detroit, through the Teenettes quartet years, on through a long and distinguished teaching career, and into non-retirement as a naturalist, photographer, and arts advocate. She made a difference in anything she did. In teaching she stimulated children to learn musically and discover their creativity; she left behind a strong curriculum and a collegial workplace. Her photographic art combines her musical ear with her refined eye in appreciation of the natural world to which we all belong. A tireless advocate for the arts in education and the community, and dedicated to bringing out the best in people, Gerri leaves behind a legacy of music and art in the lives of people she touched. Throughout a long marriage she was a loving wife and mother, always welcoming at home, and known for her culinary accomplishments. Outside the home, she traveled widely and was a life-long learner. Gerri did not choose to live with Alzheimer’s Disease in her final years, but she bore it with grace—friendly, appreciative, sweet, and loving to the end.

All are invited to a Celebration of Life service and reception on Saturday, July 10, at 1:30 pm EDT at the Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ (ERUCC), Frederick MD 21701, where Gerri’s cremated remains will reside. Masks required if unvaccinated, under the age of 12, or when near children. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial contribution to:
(1) ArtSpring online at www.artspringwv.com or by check to PO Box 156, Thomas WV 26292; or
(2) Alzheimer’s Association online at www.act.alz.org

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