Woman was drum and bugle corps standout during WWII
In 1970, when Geraldine "Gerry" Wetterling re-entered the work force, she started in the secretarial pool at UOP in Des Plaines, which delivers cutting-edge technology to companies in the petroleum industry.
It turned out to be a good fit. Mrs. Wetterling remained there for 25 years, working her way up through the technical services area, to be come executive administrative assistant for Vice President Michael Winfield before he was promoted to become CEO of the company.
"She was very much of a perfectionist," said another UOP vice president Peter Jackson, whom Mrs. Wetterling worked the past three years. "She certainly kept me on schedule."
Mrs. Wetterling retired in 1995, but she remained active in the company's 25 Year Club.
Mrs. Wetterling died Sunday at her home in Grayslake. The former 25-year Schaumburg resident, who raised her children in Mount Prospect, was 74.
Growing up, the former Gerry Gebbia was a gifted musician. She earned a spot as a featured soloist in the neighborhood drum and bugle corps that formed on Chicago's Near North Side during World War II.
She was only 11 years old when she began marching with the corps. Although trained on piano, she had no formal lessons on the trumpet, and yet she became a standout bugler in the corps.
Her brother Hank Gebbia of Las Vegas remembers marching with his sister in the drum and bugle corps, whose headquarters was located above the Biograph Theater in Chicago.
"It rallied the neighborhoods during the war," Gebbia says. "We did all kinds of things, including holding scrap drives and tending victory gardens. It was an interesting time to live."
The drum and bugle corps had nearly 40 members who not only marched in parades but participated in field shows, displaying their intricate marching drills and military pageantry.
They were the predecessors of today's competitive drum and bugle corps, which compete all summer in a world championship series, sponsored by Drum Corps International, and drive the trends in high school and college marching bands.
Corps members dressed in military type uniforms, and as a featured bugler with the corps, Mrs. Wetterling played taps at many veterans' funerals, her brother added.
As an adult, Mrs. Wetterling began working after high school, honing her skills as a secretary, before marrying Charles Wetterling and raising their family.
The couple moved to Mount Prospect in 1967, where they raised their two sons through their teenage years before divorcing. Finding her job with UOP opened up a new world for Mrs. Wetterling, colleagues say, leading her to buy a condominium in Schaumburg in 1977 and to a newfound independence.
Besides her brother, Mrs. Wetterling is survived by her son Mark of Delavan, Wis., and Steve of Barrington, as well as three grandchildren.
A memorial service will take place from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Friedrich's Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Road in Mount Prospect.