Gissie Block, May 17, 2016. 

If you or a family member needed help as a student at Delmar Harvard (DH) Elementary in U City from the late ‘50s – mid  80’s, you probably knew Mrs. Block. Gissie Block, who died peacefully on May 17, 2016, worked for 27 years as DH secretary, winning school district honors for her unique ability, instincts and judgment.

“She ran the school,” is the typical phrase teachers used to characterize their colleague and friend. Besides negotiating logistics for approximately 400 students, the principal and kindergarten through sixth grade teachers each year, she pinch-hit occasionally as substitute teacher, as nurse often. She was always Sympathizer in Chief. 

Her service career began years earlier when, as secretary at the Jewish Children’s Home of St. Louis, she brought hope to kids whose parents had died. One of the kids she befriended was a five-year old girl named Wendy whose mother had died months before and whose father visited often. Within a year that girl’s father and Gissie would marry.

Following retirement from DH, Gissie volunteered for multiple St. Louis non-profits. 

Only when Alzheimer’s prevented her from remembering which bus lines to take to her volunteer groups did she stop actively serving others. For much of her final two years, the remarkable staff of Pathways Hospice served her when she lived at Delmar Gardens Chesterfield. 

“Her team kept me in constant touch with my mom,” says daughter Wendy Block, who now lives in California. “When she could no longer speak, her nurse Nicki and social worker Lindsay called regularly so I could talk to her when I couldn’t be there. Pathways loving volunteers and visitors made it bearable to live 2000 miles away.” 

Even in death Gissie continues to help, having donated her body to Washington University for research. A small private memorial service was led by Pathways Rabbi Dale Schreiber.

Gissie Block was 94. Besides Wendy, she is survived by son-in-law Michael Sigman, granddaughter Sashi Gollub, nieces Louise Sandhaus and Marti Purdy, cousins Carol Fixman, Harriet Turner, Linda Fixman, Bob Fortus and Amanda Growe. Her husband was the late Harold Block. Her sisters were the late Gertrude Bunchez and Harriet Sandhaus. 

BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE