Character: Unforgettable People of Woodstock > Gertrude & Robert Mertens

“A Legacy of Caring”
(1905-1993)

Gertrude and Robert Mertens were a team. They shared an interest in art, a love of family, and a passion for the environment and helping others.

The two met through Gertrude’s brother, who was a classmate of Robert Mertens at the Horace Mann School. After Robert and Gertrude were married, Robert brought Gertrude up to Woodstock to visit. As a youngster, Robert and his mother had frequently summered in Woodstock, staying at the Woodstock Inn. Like Robert, Gertrude immediately fell in love with the town and its people, and the couple purchased a small rustic vacation home in West Woodstock, which the family still owns and refers to as the “Pink House.”

This house eventually became the Mertens’ primary home when they moved to Woodstock years later. After moving to the area, it did not take Gertrude long to become an active part of the Woodstock community. Gertrude was a do-er. When she heard from her friend Sally Foss that Tad Bailey, a local artist and education visionary, had the idea of starting a special school to help children with learning disabilities, she and Sally both signed aboard. The three of them were able to jump start a progressive school called the Woodstock Learning Clinic, and enlist other dedicated workers and volunteers, such as Isabel Stephens and Charlet Davenport, to assist.

“She valued honesty, manners, and politeness. She was a hands-on person. She did her own work and was not above getting down in the dirt (she loved to tend her gardens), yet she was always a lady… She enjoyed intellectual conversation, reading, classical music, gardening, politics, the theater, and good company. She was devoted to her husband, Bobby.”

— Bruce Seely, grandson

“Bobby,” the name by which the family referred to Gertrude’s husband Robert Mertens, was a true kindred spirit. Both he and Gertrude loved art. While Gertrude painted, Bobby was a noted photographer.

They were strong, principled people who believed that all people were equal – regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or social status – and they were not afraid to get involved. Bobby’s tireless political efforts against the Vietnam War earned him a letter from the White House stating he had been placed on President Richard Nixon’s enemy list. He had the letter framed. In the 1960s, Gertrude and Bobby were involved in a serious automobile accident. While Robert was recuperating at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, the Mertens became friends with Dr. Sven Gunderson.

The Mertens asked Dr. Gunderson for ideas of how they might help others. He suggested providing scholarships for students going to Dartmouth Medical School. Since that time, the Mertens family has given ninety scholarships a year to those pursuing a career in medicine. They have also created two endowed chairs for professors at the medical school.

Following Robert Mertens’ passing, Gertrude felt strongly about people who needed to move out of Woodstock because they needed 24-hour nursing care. Her response was to commission the design and construction of Mertens House to serve those needs in a modern, well-equipped nursing home. This special facility is backed by a trust, established by the Mertens family, so that people are not excluded because of their inability to pay. While Gertrude and Robert Mertens have both passed away (Robert in 1983, Gertrude in 1993) their legacy of kindness and generosity lives on through the many charitable organizations that they initiated and lives that they touched.