Gretchen Hildinger (nee Albrecht), 94, of San Diego, Calif., formerly of Harrison, N.J., passed away on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. The funeral service will be held at Mulligan Funeral Home, 331 Cleveland Ave., Harrison, N.J. 07029, on Saturday at 10 a.m. Interment will follow at Arlington Cemetery, Kearny, N.J. Gretchen was born Dorothy Gretchen Albrecht on Dec. 13, 1916 on a Nebraska farm. Her early years were little work and much play. She rode her pony, Flossie, 3-1/2 miles to school, and in the evening, went for cows in the pasture. It was a happy childhood provided by loving parents. After high school Gretchen moved with her parents to Montana, where she graduated from Eastern Montana State College in Billings. That was a happy time, too. In 1942 she came East, and the following year was married to William Hildinger, former executive director of the Harrison Housing Authority. Veterans of World War II remember Bill as editor of Goodman's Scratch Sheet, a mimeographed newsletter mailed to Armed Forces from Harrison all over the world. Their marriage continued for 41 years. It was a very, very happy marriage. Gretchen's teaching career was mainly in Newark, N.J. After a number of years at Dayton Street School, she transferred to Hawkins Street, where she became vice principal. It was a most satisfying career. Bill died in 1984, and two years later Gretchen moved to California. At the time of her death she was living at Silverado Hospice in Encinitas, Calif. It was a rewarding life from beginning to end. She is survived by her nephew, Henry W. Hildinger and his wife, Patricia A., of Chester, N.J.; a grandniece, Lisa Hildinger and her husband, Michael, of Andover, N.J., and their daughter, Morgan, and a grandnephew, Jeffrey H. Hildinger of Wilmington, N.C. Gretchen is also survived by her cousins, Barbara Lyons of Danbury, Neb.; Verna Estergard of Orange, Calif.; Pauline Dodson and Shirley Wolfe from Lexington, Neb.; Diane Nichols of Chandler, Ariz.; Joyce Carson of New Barunsfels, Texas; Bruce Estergard of Garden Grove, Calif.; Carole Diebolt of Littleton, Colo., and Janet Countryman of St. Louis, Mo., their families, and her dear friends, Mary Boylan and Peg Mc Guigan.
Published in Star-Ledger on October 6, 2011