Carroll University Mourns 'Grandma Gert'

WAUKESHA, WI— Carroll University is mourning the loss of beloved "Grandma Gert." The university announced on Facebook that Gert Ullsperger has died.

When she started at Carroll in 1964, Gert was a stay-at-home mother with three children. A neighbor asked Gert if she would help out after a Carroll employee did not show up for work on the first day of the semester. After talking it over with her husband, Gert went to work for Carroll, according to the university's newsletter.

Gert’s last day on campus was in March 2020. She learned to use Zoom to stay in touch with faculty, staff, and students.

Carroll University posted a statement on Facebook on Thursday.:

"She was the honorary, substitute grandmother to decades of Carroll students, a sunny dispenser of smiles, hugs and comfort from her station at the entrance of the Main Dining Room, renamed the Gert Ullsperger Dining Room in her honor in 2018.

It was 1964, and a neighbor asked Gert if she could help out in the dining room at Carroll after another employee had failed to show up. Gert was given a uniform and showed up for work the next day. And for the following 56 years.

“I had such a good time doing it and that lady never did show up the next day either. So, the job, they told me, was mine if I could do it,” Ullsperger said. “It’s been a wonderful journey from that day up to right now.”

Gert taught us how to be kind, to lead with love and to always laugh. Generations of Carroll students, faculty, staff and community members now carry the memories of her smiles, her whispered encouragements, her warmth and, yes, her wonderful hugs, with them.

What a wonderful legacy."