It was fitting that Gertrud Small, a lover of the arts and a regular at the symphony, opera and theater, could design and make women’s suits for any occasion.
“She was so clever, especially when it came to sewing,” said her husband, Henry Small. “She was a wonderful woman. There was nothing she couldn’t do.”
Small died July 16 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. She was 90.
“Trudy,” as she was known to her family and friends, was born in 1918 in Vienna, Austria. When the Nazis invaded Austria, a 20-year-old Small obtained a visa and escaped to London, where she found employment as a domestic helper. In 1940 she began working for the war effort, making uniforms for British soldiers.
After the war, Small designed and sewed clothing for a British manufacturer before moving to Kansas City, Mo., to be closer to her sister, Hedy Schick.
Three years later, a blind date led to Trudy meeting Henry Small. Mutual friends persuaded him to temporarily leave San Francisco to take a chance on finding love. It worked.
“I met her [in Kansas City] and fell in love with her,” he said. “I said, ‘I’ll marry you,’ and she said, ‘You’re crazy.'”
The pair married in 1953 and created a home together in San Francisco.
Small continued her career as a clothing designer and seamstress for 17 years before retiring to spend more time with friends and relatives. The holidays, specifically Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah, brought Small, a longtime member of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, the most happiness, said her niece, Suzanne Schick.
Schick, who owns a consignment shop, remembered her aunt as always making clothes simply because she loved apparel.
“Somewhere in there, maybe some of that rubbed off on me,” Schick said. “She was a good person and a part of my life for so long.”
Small is survived by her husband, Henry; sister Hedy Schick; niece Suzanne Schick, and nephews Robert Schick and Michael Lane; and great nephew Mark Schick.