Gertrude Danbury Cruser

Gertrude was a woman who was loved and adored by many people. She touched the lives of everyone she encountered. She was born on August 15, 1922 in Allentown, PA, and married John Cruser, Senior in 1941. Together they had five children, ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Gertrude, also known by close friends and family as Honey, worked for Princeton University for over 30 years as Building Supervisor for the Housing Department.

Gertrude was admitted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in early May 2004 to be treated for complications of diabetes. While lying in bed in the ICU, she had the unexpected opportunity to hear harp music coming from the hallway. His music raised her spirits and comforted her. On May 8, 2004, at 81 years old, with her family by her side, she passed away at home.

It brings her family great pleasure to award a music scholarship in her name. As a family we hope that you are able to touch the lives of a sick person and their families the way that she was touched by the music in her last days.

We would like to share with you the worlds of the following and hope that it will help inspire you. Gertrude had her grandson read this at her funeral. This truly exemplifies the way she lived her life and the way she raised her children:

Desiderata

by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too, have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and biter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But, do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

BE CAREFUL. STRIVE TO BE HAPPY!