Geraldine J. Shattuck

Geri Shattuck was great lady. She will always be known for her beauty, grace, elegance, charm, intellect, and wisdom. Born in Gary, Indiana she was once featured in a 1957 article for Look magazine as the typical teenager. As a young nursing student at Michael Reese hospital in Chicago she often told of how she babysat for Thoms Edison's grandchildren, delivered 40 babies in one night, rolled hospital beds through Hyde Park to homeless shelters, and developed several child rearing programs for young poor Mothers in the neighborhood. She also spoke of how sometimes she regretted not taking the opportunity presented to go to Calcutta to work with Mother Teresa. Of course she was kind and compassionate, grew the reddest, juiciest tomatoes, was a professional buy one - get one shopper, and made the best pork roast on the planet. But, the best thing about Geri, was she was an absolute blast to be around. She had a smile as bright as the sun, and one of those infectious laughs. She befriended a great ape named Sunshine while volunteering at the Dublin, Ohio zoo. Sunshine's caregivers always knew that Geri was coming, because the ape would run to the front of the cage and jump up and down in anticipation of greeting his friend. At a fund raising party for Ronald Reagan, he excused himself from a group of people to seek out Geri, because he thought she was someone he should know. While eating dinner at a Chicago restaurant, Geri asked the waitress if she could ask the man at the next table to stop staring at her. The waitress replied, "I'm not allowed to talk to that table, that's Tom Cruise". Geri was madly in love with her husband Pete Shattuck Over the course of 56 years, together they camped at every national landmark in the USA, saw Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana in a parade in London, sailed the better part of Lake Michigan, and donated their time to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Punta Gorda. These are just a few examples of their many endless adventures. One of their favorite things to do after retiring to Florida was to cruise to Pelican Bay and listen to dolphins exhale in the quiet before sunset. Pete and Geri reared three, as Geri would say, mostly perfect children, David Shattuck, Lynne Shattuck, and Susan Shattuck and adored their grandsons, Daniel Shattuck and Stephen Shattuck. The best way to honor Geri Shattuck is to give to your local food bank. She would really like that.