Pesha Joyce Gertler
August 4, 1933 – June 8, 2015
Pesha Joyce Gertler was born on August 4, 1933, in Portland, OR. Upon the death of her mother, Esther Louise, 17 month old Pesha moved, with her father, Harry E. Gertler, to Brooklyn, NY where she was raised by her grandmother, Rose Gertler.
In those early years, Pesha developed a life-long love of reading. She once said “I grew up in an extended tri-generational, bilingual family of story tellers, poets, dreamers, who lured me into the magical world of language. As an imaginative only child, poets and writers became my closest friends. My Jewish immigrant grandmother’s need to work in the sweatshops precluded an education. Hence, she could neither read nor write in English and through her, I learned how language can shut one out as well as draw one in. Out of this heritage, my love and respect for language grew, my appreciation of the magic and power of words.”
Pesha would spend the rest of her life writing: during marriage, the birth of five children, divorce, welfare, single parenting, hard-won academic achievements (full scholarship to Reed College), and creative collaborations with her life partner and other artists. Pesha fell in love with the art and craft of poetry and became a nationally and internationally published poet, including travel coast to coast and to the Middle East.
In 1981, Pesha became the founder of “Self-Discovery for Women through Creative Writing”, a writing community for women of all ages, backgrounds, new and experienced writers. Pesha was a member of the English faculty at North Seattle Community College. She also taught creative writing at the University of Washington Women’s Center, Cancer Lifeline, NSCC Continuing Education, along with independent writing classes, workshops and retreats.
An achievement of which she was especially proud, Pesha became the inaugural Seattle Poet Populist 2005 with the mission to bring poetry to places where it isn’t heard. Pesha’s poetry appeared on city buses, she read at a Seattle City Council meeting, Bumpershoot, Mary’s Place, and leading writing workshops for children and adults.
October 2014, Pesha was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer, a highly aggressive form of the disease. She underwent chemotherapy treatments at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, though it eventually ended her life on June 8, 2015.
Pesha is survived by her spouse and partner of 37 years, Leslie J. Shinsato; five children, Lonnie M. Pierce-Smith, Gina P. Vaeretti (Bill), Valerie R. Hamilton (Doug), Shawn S. Smith (Doris) and Veronica V. Smith; 10 grandchildren, Michael Smith, Paul, Douglas (Priscillia), and Amanda Hamilton, Pesha R. Pierce Smith, Violet V., Felycia F., Jasmine J. Smith and Nikki and Rolando Delgado Smith; and six nieces, and one nephew.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Barton Family Funeral Services, 14000 Aurora Ave. N, Seattle WA 98133, on August 3, 2015, at 3 p.m.