Clara Gierisch was the recipient of a life insurance windfall that allowed her family to live comfortably … and pay it forward.
Clara A. Gierisch (1878-1959)
Clara was born in June 1878 to Henry F. and Kate Gierisch. Her father died in 1897 in Manhattan. Fortunately, Henry had taken out a $10,000 life insurance policy.
In its May 1898 volume, The Insurance Economist, an industry publication, printed a letter from Kate Gierisch commending the Mutual Reserve Association for sending payment so quickly. The president of the association, Frederick A. Burnham, responded: “If Henry F. Gierisch had insured his life in an Old Line Company, his widow would have received only $4,781.”
Tragically, Kate died only two years later, so Clara, her younger brother, Otto, and younger sister, Grace, went to stay with their aunt and uncle, Louise and Charles Ottman, in the Bronx.
She later lived with Otto, an electrical engineer. After his death in 1933, she moved to an apartment on Riverside Drive, where she lived alone. She described her occupation as “keeping house.” She died May 20, 1959.
Her unrestricted fund in The Trust has supported a worker-owned cooperative run largely by domestic violence survivors, efforts to combat climate change, housing and job placement for immigrants, training women to run for office, care for patients with chronic pain, and many more efforts.