Somers remembers the life of Nancy Gerbino

SOMERS, N.Y. - Nancy Gerbino was a person who loved to dig – and it wasn’t just in her beloved flower garden.

As a community journalist, historical researcher, and natural-born teacher, she was never happier than when chasing down some obscure or elusive fact that -- once unearthed -- she could share with others.

Gerbino died last year at the age of 89 – not long after failing health forced her to step down from the town’s Planning Board.

Curiosity was a trait that served the Somers resident well during her nearly 20 years on the board and her involvement with the Somers Historical Society.

Not only could Gerbino be counted on to do the necessary homework – and more -- on whatever project was before the board, she frequently dazzled colleagues, applicants, and the public with her detailed knowledge of the property’s past.

The town was growing by leaps and bounds, so those tidbits of information were not only interesting and entertaining, they helped put current situations in perspective, recalls Planning Board chair John Currie.

Retired after a long career with Blue Cross/Blue Shield and as a freelancer for local newspapers, Gerbino had been inducted into the Westchester County Senior Hall of Fame in 2021.

She was the focus of a recent National Women’s Month event held at Somers Town Hall.

“Since 1987, the United States has officially recognized March as National Women’s Month to celebrate the collective strength and influence of women who have dedicated their lives to education, mentorship, and leadership,” said historical society Grace Zimmermann in her opening speech on March 12.

“Nancy certainly embodied all those qualities, so it seemed a fitting month to Wendy (Getting, senior office assistant, town Engineering Department), Doris Jane Smith (town historian), and I to recognize her contributions to the community,” she added.

'Nancy Stories'

Although quite the people person with friends far and wide, Gerbino was not one to seek attention or praise herself.

She never wanted, as she once put it, a “fuss.”

So being the honoree at the event -- had Gerbino been there in person and not just in spirit -- might have blown her away.

But that’s okay; the folks who were there on March 12 were just grateful for the chance to share their personal memories of Gerbino and laud her long list of contributions and achievements.

A small journal was passed around so people could jot down thoughts. Seeds packets of black-eyed Susan (one of her favorite flowers) sat in a bowl by a portrait of Gerbino in her garden. Two of her articles were there for the reading. Sandwiches and salads were served on daisy-patterned plates. Elephant-shaped sugar cookies were dunked in steaming cups of coffee. Music by her friend, "Howling Marty," played softly in the background.

Besides, her wicked sense of humor and ability to tell it like it was – diplomatically though with the occasional expletive thrown in -- provided lots of fodder for favorite “Nancy stories.”

Among the tellers was town historian Smith, a fellow history buff and faithful friend.

(Both Smith and Gerbino were raised in Yonkers, but didn’t know each other until they met in Somers as young parents. Nancy and her late husband, Vincent, lived and raised their children, Sarah and David, in the hamlet of Granite Springs.)

Although frail in her final years, Gerbino still managed to trek up and down three flights of narrow, wooden stairs in The Elephant Hotel, a 200-year-old landmark that houses the town’s offices, meeting room, court, and the Somers Historical Society’s headquarters/museum.

Then a teacher at a nearby school, Smith would nip over to the Somers Historical Society’s offices at lunchtime on Thursdays for a quick “salon” with Gerbino.

The two would talk history and catch up on the latest news.

If there was any mystery Smith herself couldn’t crack, she’d sic her personal bloodhound on it and would inevitably be rewarded, not only with the answer, but reams of extra information besides.

One for instance:

For Black History Month in 2023, Gerbino uncovered the story of local grist mill owner John Owen who had been appalled to find in 1826 that Gilbert Horton, a free Black man and former Somers resident, was being offered for sale as a “runaway slave” in Washington, D.C.

Owen knew a “great injustice” was being done because his own father had granted Horton his freedom after he’d completed several years of indentured service.

At the time, Somers had a population of 1,772. Sixty residents were listed as free African Americans, six of whom owned their own homes.

Owen rounded up several influential friends, including William Jay and Oliver Green, and wrote to the folks in D.C. excoriating them for violating Horton’s constitutional rights.

They also demanded that Congress immediate abolish slavery in D.C.

Horton was let go.

“And so, a young man named Gilbert Horton gained, for the second time, his freedom due to an outraged group of people from Westchester lead by a man from Somers named John Owen,” Gerbino wrote.

She'd also been trying to track down where a contingent of Black Civil War soldiers had been buried in Somers.

Picture This

Besides being a great writer, Gerbino knew her way around a camera.

One day she showed up at Smith’s offices itching to try out her new long-distance lens on the monument to Old Bet, an Indian elephant who was the star of local pioneer and entrepreneur Hachaliah Bailey’s 19th-century traveling menagerie.

The images Gerbino captured of the crumbling concrete pachyderm were shocking.

“Look at this damn thing; it’s falling apart!” she told Smith and Grace Zimmermann, then the society’s volunteer vice president.

Things “snowballed” from there, Zimmermann said.

Eventually, the town replaced Old Bet with a new Old Bet cast in bronze made by local sculptor Luigi Badia and funded by the Wittmann family.

To Zimmermann, her mentor and history were “synonymous.”

“She was the consummate historian, researcher. If you had a question you needed to have answered about anything, Nancy was your go-to person,” she said, recalling that Gerbino was “over the moon” about the new statue.

“A lot of people don’t realize that that was in a big part because of her,” Zimmermann said.

Gerbino’s still helping from beyond.

She left the society boxes of her research materials and writings. Like buried treasure, they’ve been tucked away in its archives.

“We have been given the gift of all her hard work,” said a grateful Smith, who’s eager to dive in.

'She's Amazing'

Gerbino was wearing a ski jacket – identifying her as a member of a 70-something ski club – when she and Currie first met.

“I thought, ‘Huh, she’s amazing’,” he recalled.

(Gerbino was still skiing at 80. She and Vincent enjoyed other outdoor activities such as boating, especially in Maine.)

But even more impressive was his colleague’s expertise off the slopes.

No matter what the application that was in front of the board, Gerbino “knew everything about it.”

“You’d be sitting there thinking that you’d done your homework and she’d say ‘I have a question’ and it was something you’d never even read or heard anything about. It was like that every time. We’d pass notes back and forth and …,” Currie said, pausing to ask with a smile, “This isn’t taped, right? … she was always right.”

The highest compliment Currie said he’s ever received on the board was the time Gerbino told him she liked the way he ran meetings.

“Coming from her, it really meant a lot,” he said, thanking her family for “sharing her with us all these years.”

“We miss her at every meeting, trust me,” Currie added.

'A Person Who Delved'

As a young woman, Gerbino had attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland where she focused on Biblical Hebrew, a crucial language for understanding the history, culture, and religious traditions of the ancient Israelites. 

Theology, from a historical standpoint, was “a passion that grew from her innate curiosity about everything,” said Sarah Gerbino, adding that her mother was “a person who delved.”

That some questions may never be fully answered was alright with Gerbino.

She was motivated by “the ambiguity” of things. and if she ever hit a dead end while researching, that was okay; there were always other tempting threads to pull and other rabbit holes to happily fall down.

“One of the greatest gifts my mother gave me was the way that she lived. She demonstrated that it was okay to be different, to not follow the pack. She didn’t feel she had to think like others; that’s what gave her her intellectual freedom,” explained her daughter, who is, not surprisingly, a teacher.

Son David, a "data-driven marketing consultant," was also impressed by his mom's “thoroughness."

“She had many such jobs over the years and the things she found were just really fascinating,” he said, referencing Gerbino’s discovery that – contrary to popular belief – Old Bet was not an African elephant; she was imported -- along with her trainer -- to America from India.

Tenacity Personified

It’s Gerbino’s tenacity and ability to keep her sense of humor "right to the end" that “Howling Marty,” aka musician and historical society member Martin Stole, remembers best.

One day, he was escorting the feisty octogenarian down the steep stairs at The Elephant Hotel.

When they finally got to the bottom, she turned to him and joked -- with a straight face: “I need a beer.”

Gerbino passed away just a few weeks later.

She 'Was Somers'

According to Smith, Gerbino “loved Somers, its good and its bad.”

“Even though she came from Yonkers, Nancy really was a Somers person at heart. She truly WAS Somers,” her friend said.