Gertraud Hilde Hessler Matt D.V.M 1949 - 2012 Gertraud H. Matt (Dr. Trudy) passed away at home with her family on July 16 2012 after a valiant and difficult battle with cancer. Trudy was born in a small town in Germany to Heinrich Hessler and Hilde (Zielke) Hessler on January 13, 1949. She lived in Germany until 1954 when her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. Even though a young girl, she had fond memories of her time in Germany and of her voyage to New York City on the SS America She completed her high school education in Chicago and attended the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated with her Doctoral Degree in Veterinary Medicine in 1974. Upon graduation she worked for the South Side Veterinary Hospital in Chicago. In 1976 she moved to Vermont and began working at the Windham Veterinary Clinic in Brattleboro, where she met her husband David Matt. Their first date was a ride on Dave's motorcycle, it was a great beginning to a lifelong romance. In 1978 Trudy and Dave were married and they lived on his family's farm in Marlboro until 1984 when they moved into the house they built on Higley Hill Road in Marlboro. In 1980 she left the Windham Veterinary Clinic to start her own practice, first doing mostly house calls and then working out of a small room in her new house where she continued to practice until recently. Trudy was a strong woman with high ideals, strong will power and a deep pragmatism. She lived a full and determined life. She was well known as an avid horsewoman, spending countless hours riding on the trails around her home and practicing dressage. She loved to ride her bike around the dirt roads of the area towns, often riding more than 2000 miles in a summer. She enjoyed walking and cross-country skiing with friends, hiking in the mountains, and was an avid and eclectic reader. She took great pride in her granddaughters and loved playing with them at the pond, in the snow, building forts in the living room, and reading them their bedtime stories. And of course she greatly enjoyed practicing veterinary medicine in a practical, earthy style all her own. She is survived by her husband David Matt, her son Jeremy and his wife Karen Brack and their twin daughters Attia and Meris, her son Eric and his fiance Amanda Prescott, and her uncle Horst Zielke of Baltimore. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.
Published in Brattleboro Reformer on July 19, 2012
