Gertie Smith

THEME

Sailor's Rest - Stan Rogers

• Up until about 2 decades ago, Gertie provided short sails around the island in a small ketch. It is now on display in her museum.
• Since the museum gets so few visitors these days, she gives guided tours to just about every guest.
• Despite her age, Gertie's memory is sharp as a tack.

Born sometime in the 20s-30s, Gertie grew up in what was arguably the economic golden age of this island. Her childhood memories are full of massive ocean liners and their finely dressed passengers, and in her late teens to early twenties she even worked aboard a liner. She would maintain throughout her entire life a certain admiration of that unique world at sea.

After the second world war, the island’s tour industry attempted to revive itself with a major update to the Travere Hotel, changing its name to the White Pine Inn. Around this time, Gertie began offering trips around the island on her ketch, The Pourquoi-Pas, mostly for fun as she had inherited a very large sum of money at a young age and never necessarily Needed to work.

Over the next several decades, Gertie would amass a collection of items from the retiring liners, and other decaying industries in the area. With this collection, she opened a museum and library which has maintained a small but constant stream of visitors. Some main attractions included an old Spillman carousel, a complete dining set off the RMS Nova Scotia, and the original Fresnel lens off the island’s now modernized lighthouse.

As time has gone on, Gertie no longer sails and has had to close the once functional carousel. Although her physical strength declines, she is still a ready and reliable source for the history of the island, a helpful thing considering many historical records from before 1947 were destroyed in a flood.

Gertie has jaw length wavy grey hair. She dresses comfortably, and usually wears a scarf, often with a decorative pin. She has comically thick glasses.