Jeraldine Marchant

Jeraldine Marchant of New Berlin, 100, passed away peacefully in her sleep late at night on Wednesday June 13, 2018. Over her full century of life Jeraldine (Jerry) pursued several successful careers—as a teacher, a labor organizer and union administrator, a realtor, and a political activist. She was a woman of remarkable resilience, determination and adaptability. Born in Chicago in 1917, she never knew her father and her mother died when she was fourteen. Rather than live with uncaring step-parents she ran away, and made her own way in the world for the remainder of her life. She found employment with a family who helped her finish high school, and then placed her with another family who helped her complete her degree at the Chicago Teachers College. Later she pursued graduate studies, examining Soviet diplomatic policies during the interwar years. In 1949 she moved to the West Allis school system, where she taught multiple subjects across multiple grades, and was remembered fondly by her students. In 1965 she took up a position as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers, where she helped negotiate the first teachers contract under the new state collective bargaining law. In 1970 she received her Realtor License, and worked for many years with leading realty companies including Robideaux Realty, Merrill Lynch, Prudential, and First Weber, as well as being President of the Milwaukee Board of Realtors. She became involved with the Wisconsin Board of Realtors Political Action Committee, and remained an engaged political activist until the final years of her life. In her 90s she had a job at a real estate title company; and when someone expressed surprise that she was still working; Jerry shrugged. "It's only part time." Jerry's lifetime of work was recognized with numerous awards, most recently the 2018 Extraordinary Achievement Award from Realtors' Political Action Committee. Jerry was an avid traveler, loved learning and books, and participated in both the ElderHostel program and the Learning in Retirement program at the Waukesha County Technical College. As a youth in Chicago she worked for the Auditorium Theater, where she developed a lifelong love of music, theater the visual arts, and dance, and she held season tickets to the Milwaukee Repertory Theater Company. She cultivated and maintained a wide circle of friends and acquaintances spanning her many interests. For more than fifty years Jerry had a close friendship with Bernice Wade Barker, and served as "third parent" to her children. She is survived by members of her "chosen family," Brooke Barker of New Berlin and Alex Barker and Lana Coggeshall of Columbia, Missouri, and the next generation: Aidan, Rhys and Elliot, as well as the Barker, Wade, and Huse extended families. Jerry Marchant was a self-made woman of indomitable spirit—fierce in her loyalties and endlessly interested in and proud of those around her—who spent her lifetime pressing forward, and rarely looking backward. "I like to have something to say about what's going on," Jerry said in a 1987 interview. "I always like to be where the action is."