~ A STATUE FOR GERTIE ~



Well our good friend Harvey Nowland has returned to visit us with yet another great article for Norm's Ramblin's.! This time he is bringing up our Milwaukee childhood memory of the special duck called "Gertie." Harvey wasn't a Tosa grad. He was one of those tough West Division dudes who had a great job with IPD Inks in Milwaukee in the late 50's and then God said, "Got somethin extra for you and Roberta." He finished college at the University of Corpus Christi and then we went to Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth together in the early 60's. Harvey and Bobbie were missionaries to Lima and Arriquippa, Peru and then pastored in Georgia and Kinnett Square, PA. Now he is a writer and has a great web site at www.stone-trace.com

GERTIES WAS HER NAME AND SHE TURNED THE CITY UPSIDE DOWN!

A long time ago, in a city far away, there lived a duck. Unlike most wild ducks, instead of seeking the relative safety and tranquillity of open wetlands, this duck decided to live in the city.

Actually, that "city far away" was Milwaukee, Wisconsin my hometown, where I grew up during the depression. We celebrated my ninth birthday in 1941, two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The war laid heavily on the lives and hearts of people. And, even though war hadn't touched our shores, the grief of those who had lost loved ones to war's horror had taken its terrible toll.

Then, on an April day in 1945 a mother and her young son were crossing the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge over the Milwaukee River. The boy spotted a duck that had built a nest on one of the pilings in the river below.

The news spread quickly, and before long hundreds of people were coming daily to see the duck and her nest of six eggs. The Milwaukee Humane Society had to post an officer near the nest to keep traffic moving and prevent injury to the duck and her eggs. She wasn't aware that she had a name, but people called her Gertie.

Even our troops around the world heard of her. Two Milwaukee schoolteachers, Nick Georgiady and Louis Romano, were serving in the U.S. Air Force in England. They read about Gertie in the armed forces newspaper, Stars and Stripes. After the war they returned to teach school and write children's books, and in 1959 they wrote Gertie the Duck. It has been translated into at least six languages.

Gertie and her family caused the city to modify a celebration at the end of the war in Europe too. On May 8, 1945 a victory parade was planned along Wisconsin Avenue. Everyone knew Gertie's eggs were about to hatch. So just before the parade reached the bridge, the high school, college, and military bands stopped playing. All the marchers, including soldiers and sailors, walked quietly across the bridge so they wouldn't frighten Gertie. Once across the bridge, they began playing again as they marched away toward Lake Michigan.

Finally, five of Gertie's eggs hatched. Before the ducklings were able to swim, occasionally, one of them would fall into the water. The man who tended the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge became something of a local hero when he would rescue one of the ducklings with a net.

Later, Gertie and her family were moved to the Juneau Park lagoon near Lake Michigan and set free with other ducks. Gertie and her family could be identified by the splash of yellow paint on their backs.

At the approach of winter, Gertie and her family flew south. But for many springs after that, people would go to the lagoon at Juneau Park to see if they could spot Gertie or one of her youngsters.

As a 12-year old I'd take the streetcar to downtown Milwaukee with my mother to see Gertie. I remember watching the policeman stop traffic to allow Gertie to march across Wisconsin Avenue with her family waddling along behind.

My mother died two years ago, and when my wife and I returned to Wisconsin for her burial, we stayed in downtown Milwaukee. One night, as we strolled along the pleasant walk that follows the Milwaukee River, we came across a wonderful tribute. It was a bronze statue of Gertie nesting on the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge.

It's a fitting tribute, because Gertie was something of a hero. She had been our symbol of hope back then. And long after the last bridge across the Rhine had fallen, the Humane Society continued its daily sentry post at Gertie's Wisconsin Avenue Bridge.

It seems kind of silly as I try to explain how important that duck was to so many people. After all, Gertie was only a duck. But those of us who were there back then occasionally remember and talk about the pleasure, hope, and joy that an otherwise insignificant duck brought to thousands of people.

Gertie could have done the wild duck thing. But for some reason she chose to live among people and the dangers of the city.

And I've been thinking, if a duck could provide that sort of joy without being aware of it . . . do you suppose that you and I could risk doing the same? You know, choose to step outside of our "zones" and perhaps bring some hope, pleasure, and joy to others?

It's just a thought, but God's Word does say, "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones" (Proverbs 15:30).

-- by Harvey Nowland