Letter to the NPHS Class of 1969 from President Richard Nixon

Courtesy of Beat Steiner, class of 1969.

The NPHS Reunion Essay, By Gabriele (Gaby) Steiner Gertsch, Class of 1968

After high school I decided to go to a private Liberal Arts College in Pennsylvania (Elizabethtown), which had a good reputation. Soon after school started, I began feeling very lonely there. We were out in the country near Lancaster in the middle of Amish country. That is when relatives in Switzerland offered that I could come stay with them at any time. My brother Beat from the class of 1969 had stayed the summer with them and invited me to Switzerland.  So, I started working on Plan B.

In the summer of 1969 I went to the beach town of Wildwood, NJ. Every day I would clean rooms until about 2 PM. Then at 5 PM I would work at a restaurant. I did that seven days a week. I saved enough money to travel via Iceland to Luxembourg and I still had $400 left over, which at the time was worth 1,600 Swiss Francs. Sallie Gillen McDonald, class of 1971, traveled with me for the first three weeks. We stayed with relatives in a beautiful mansion in St. Gallen.

I worked at the restaurant Rössli in Zofingen, where I was also able to live with the owners.  It was again a lonely time for me until a friend from high school, Joanna Pandolfino from the class of 1969, came to visit. I went to see her again at her relatives in Madrid, Spain. We travelled all over Spain by train. Because she was fluent in Spanish we did not have any problems getting around. We had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, Joanna died at only 23 years old in a horseback riding accident, so I never saw her again.

Half a year later I started a farming school in Morges ("Bäuerinnenschule"). Each weekend I was allowed to go stay with someone and that is how I learned about the life of a farmer. I would never want to become a farmer! During that time, I would also go to "L'Abri," a well know American community of Christians in a small village above Aigle. Hundreds of Americans would go there because of Dr. Francis Schaeffer. I went there for a weekend and could sense the presence of God. 

In 1971, I returned to the U.S. with two friends. One of them, Felix Gertsch, would become my husband. We stayed with my brother Beat in Charlottesville, VA. Through another student, Beat had met Jesus and encouraged me to seek Him also. The Christian student group organized a weekend and that's where I met Jesus, which changed my life. I then asked Jesus, "What now?" I had the strong impression that I should return to Switzerland.

Back in Switzerland, I studied at a secretarial school and worked for many years at ESSO where my superior was very kind to me and paid me well. During this time, Felix was working in South Africa and subsequently travelled around the world. In June of 1974, Felix returned to Switzerland. Felix and I got married on September 10, 1977, and over the years we have been hosting many visitors from abroad. There were so many that I could not even count them all.

On May 20, 1979, Andreas Joel was born and 21 months later, Stefan Daniel. On September 30, 1984, I had a stillborn baby. Andi wanted to name the baby Mirjam, if it was a girl (which it was). We had just gone through the story of Moses as a baby and how Mirjam brought him back to his mother to take care of him until he was weened. I immediately had a "Yes" to Andi's wish. Because God is so merciful, He blessed us with a third child, Liliane Estella, on September 25, 1985. Everybody was happy. With three children, church involvement and visitors, I had a full schedule. 

We would travel about every three years to the U.S. to visit my parents and the family of my brother Beat. We often traveled with Beat’s family the beach or to various national parks by camper. I also visited regularly with Sallie and with Carol Martinez Weber, from the class of 1968, who I met on the first day of third grade and have stayed close friends with ever since.

Because my mother died of breast cancer at a young age I always was aware that this would also be a health risk for me. In 1997 I found a lump in my breast and that is how my story with cancer began.

After doing a total body scan the doctors also discovered something in the left kidney and I had to undergo a surgery for that as well. The surgeon was very pleased that the cancer had only grown in the kidney and not attached to the surrounding area. I continued regular checkups for 10 years until the physician said that I no longer needed to come in for checkups (for the kidney cancer). After that I had breast cancer two more times with chemotherapy and radiation.

Eighteen years after the kidney removal surgery I started having pain in my back and I also started having a weird cough. We had already planned our trip to the U.S. to meet our sixth grandchild. A few days after returning to Switzerland I went to see my oncologist. At the doctor's appointment I no longer was in pain and I also was not coughing anymore, but I had too little blood. Then it all started. A PET-CT showed that cancer had metastasized to my left hip bone, the adrenal gland and the lungs. A

bronchoscopy and a hip bone biopsy indicated that it was renal cell cancer. My oncologist could not believe that after 18 years the kidney cancer had come back and metastasized. 

From the very beginning, God has given me the promises of Isaiah 41:10 ("Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.") and I was able to experience this in the last few years. Sometimes I could hardly believe that I was treated like a VIP and I was taken seriously. It has really helped me that it was, actually, God who took care of me.

I am thankful to you, my relatives, friends and brothers and sisters in the Lord. I am thankful for your lives and the time we were able to spend together. I have to say that I have had an exciting, fulfilled and joyful life. Most of all I am thankful to Felix, for everything that he has done for me, especially in this last season of my life. God will repay him accordingly. Also, for our children, their spouses, and our six cute and lovely grandchildren I am very thankful. They have given me so much joy. I know that they have wonderful parents who will prepare them from the beginning for a life with Jesus. That is the very best you can give a child.

Gaby died, in July 2017, shortly after writing this story of her life (abridged here).

Gaby at her last birthday party, with her husband Felix.