Gertrude Perluck

Westerly - Gertrude Perluck, beloved wife for sixty-three years of Herbert Perluck, passed peacefully at home in the company of her loving family on Monday, May 21.

Gertrude, born on Staten Island, N.Y., on December 5, 1916, was the daughter of the late Minnie and Samuel Schulman.

Gertrude graduated from Central Needle Trades (now known as the Fashion Institute of Technology), in N.Y.C., and from Iowa State College, where she had joined her husband during World War II. She had a flair for design and color, and her talent led her to create costumes for such performers as Ann Corio and Gypsy Rose Lee. Later, she taught apparel design at RISD in Providence, R.I., and home economics at Bushwick High School, in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Gertrude is best known as the trendsetting proprietor of The Mayan Shop, which she started in Providence in 1950 and later operated in Watch Hill for many years. After retiring from the Mayan Shop, Gertrude took up painting and was a member of the Westbeth Artists Cooperative in Greenwich Village. Her artwork was exhibited in N.Y.C. and Mystic, Conn.

She is survived by her husband Herbert Perluck, Professor Emeritus at Brooklyn College, in N.Y.C.; her daughter Deborah Woodward Collins and her husband William, with whom she made her home in Westerly; son David Perluck and his wife Sandra Connor of Barrington; grandchildren Theodore Woodward and Molly and her husband David Silva, of Westerly, and Benjamin and Lucia Perluck of Barrington; great-grandchildren Daniel, Miranda, and Samuel Silva; and sisters Irene and Audrey, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Calling hours will be from 4 to 7 p.m. at Buckler-Johnston Funeral Home at 121 Main St., in Westerly. Friends and family are invited to the home of Deborah and William Collins following the calling hours. There will be a memorial service and celebration of Gertrude's life at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Gertrude's name to Home and Hospice Care of R.I.